Three Can Keep A Secret
by New Yorktown
Summary: AU where Dipper became Ford's apprentice and now lives in Gravity Falls. Now 16 years old, Mabel is finally traveling back to that town to reunite with her brother after so long and see what he's been up to, sparking off strange new adventures and the surfacing of buried secrets. Written before the post-series comic was published.
1. Three Can Keep A Secret: Chapter 1

Greetings! Firstly I'd like to welcome back anyone who is revisiting this story because of the revisions being made. I have not significantly changed the story of this work, rather, after spending a lot of time on this sight publishing this fanfiction, writing it and its sequel, and making a number of collaborative friendships on this site, that my overall skill as a writer has improved a great deal since the beginning, and this is simply touching up my original work to bring it up to code stylistically and perhaps patch a few holes and deepen some characters with extra scenes. For those of you who left a review or added this story to your favorites, I hope its appeal still holds true for you as it did when you first read it.

As for anyone new discovering this story after the update, welcome! As a fan of Gravity Falls, I was always surprised this wasn't a more popular idea for fanworks, an alternative ending where Dipper sticks to his dreams and becomes Grunkle Ford's apprentice. This idea is very near and dear to me, and has served as the springboard for a larger body of writing than I had expected when I started this, so I hope that for anyone else who has always wished for more fanwork of this scenario, my story will meet you expectations.

 _"Italicized quotations indicate a character is thinking this."_

I hope you all enjoy the read, and I welcome any feedback you have for me about it.

* * *

A bus was driving through the early summer forests of the state of Oregon, passing by an endless body of trees bearing the full bloom of the recently ended spring at speeds that caused the whole menagerie of plant life to blend together into a green blur. The inside of the bus was sparsely populated, but if the metaphorical weight that sits on a person's shoulders could be made physical, the motor vehicle would be weighed down more than if it was packed to the gills with passengers. The girl who would be responsible for this weighing down sat in a back seat, fluffy auburn hair reaching down to her neck and clad in a homemade orange sweater with blue waves patterned onto it. The girl looked out at the passing landscape with a distant expression, her lips forming an uncharacteristic flat expression around her now free from braces teeth.

Despite having only ridden this bus ride once before in her life and having slept through most of it the last time, Mabel Pines considered it the most important, life changing bus ride she'd taken in her life. For the second trip however, she sat wide awake the entire time, mind to alight with hopes and worries that this trip down that same road might steal the title away from the previous journey, and change her life for the better this time.

Because Mabel Pines was almost 16 years old now, and was finally returning to the town of Gravity Falls. The town that her twin brother Dipper Pines, who had been regularly described as inseparable from her during their mutual youth, had never returned from.

Mabel began to mentally review the chain of events that had led her twin brother away from her, starting with vague recollections of their adventures into town before coming into focus with the discovery of Great Uncle Stanley's secret project: a portal machine used to rescue his own twin brother, Stanford Pines. Mabel had reviewed these memories dozens of times since getting on this bus and most likely hundreds of times since separating from Dipper, but her roll through the film got faster and more desperate as reunion got closer, looking for some kind of insight on what during the upcoming meeting.

Inside her mind, Mabel was back inside the bubble, a dreamlike playground the mind-warping Bill Cipher had imprisoned her in. Dipper had dragged himself through a wasteland to try and get her back, and when he finally succeeded, the two stood at the edge of the exit, having an emotional discourse as the imaginary world melted around them.

 _"I had told him... I had told him I'd be fine if he wanted to stay in Gravity Falls and be Grunkle Ford's apprentice."_ Mabel thought to herself, thinking back to the exact moment while a trace of bitter tears seeped into the side of her eyes. _"That was supposed to be the moment, the wonderful moment that squashes all doubt and established that we are the most important thing to each other!"_

Instead however, Dipper had gone quiet for a moment, and instead of the denouement of his briefly chosen lifestyle that Mabel had expected, had wanted from him, her brother simply came up and hugged her. _"Everything about that hug... it was wrong. It didn't have that endearing air of awkwardness our hugs were supposed to have. Dipper felt so light and relaxed when he hugged me, despite holding on for way deeper and longer than we normally do."_

When Dipper had pulled away, he had some tears of his own to match the ones his sister had developed as soon as she didn't get the hug she's expected. Mabel felt her heart shatter against the floor and her brother gave her a direct look in the eyes and told her "Thank you. I know this won't be easy, for either of us, but this is the best way forward for both of us. I've never felt so excited for my future than I have in this moment! Life here in Gravity Falls... it's everything I've ever wanted!"

 _"But what about what I want!? How can he be smiling like that!? He's abandoning me!"_ Mabel had asked in her head, but instead of saying that, simply gave her brother a sad smile. "Well, don't get too ahead of yourself bro, we still have an army of demons to defeat and a Grunkle to rescue before any of that can happen!" She had said, in a playfully dismissive tone. Dipper had laughed along with her, and the two of them stepped out of the bubble together. _"That bubble, for as much as it was a trick by Bill, was one of the last places where I felt happy."_

 _"Even though I'd told Dipper I was okay with whatever he wanted to do... that wasn't true. The whole time I wanted to scream, wanted to beg him to change his mind or drag him back into the bubble so we could talk this over until he realized how wrong he was."_ Mabel thought to herself while remembering the trip over the ruined remains of the town to the shielded Mystery Shack. The memories were distorted by deliberate attempts at suppression, but the brunette could easily still experience the sick feeling in her stomach Bill's hellscape had inflicted on her, even if the physical memories were dim. _"But I knew I couldn't argue, because all of it, all the ruin and destruction that I had been sleeping through, it was all my fault."_

Although she hadn't know it who it was until it was too late, the mysterious time agent Blendin Blandin had visited her as the puppet of Bill Cipher and offered her a pact, similar to Dipper's deal for a laptop password: a seemingly innocuous theft for a much grander goal: A minor object "borrowed" from Great Uncle Ford's laboratory in exchange for a time looped summer, an endless string of good times for Mabel to come to terms with her fate. _"All I wanted was a little more time..."_ Mabel in the present day thought back wistfully.

 _"...But it was all for nothing."_ She could remember thinking to herself as she crossed the wasteland, traveling behind Dipper as he led the way to the Mystery Shack. _"The rift, Bill, Mableland... even if we win through this, I still lost my brother..."_ The flurry and chaos of preparing for the final battle pushed these thoughts out of Mabel's head for the time being and let her focus, but it was always there, gnawing at her.

The battle that eventually ensued was a bit of a daze, but they eventually pulled through, somehow. Mabel was nervous and on edge during the entire conflict, but since they were going to fight for their lives against the legions of hell, no one thought it unusual. In reality, Mabel was nervous because the truth was burning inside her like a hot coal. After all, nobody present knew how Bill Cipher had come to the world. No one knew the role she had played in his arrival.

"And no one's going to know." Mabel had thought to herself, as she thought to herself many nervous times since. "If Bill tries to tell everyone, I'll just call him a liar. Nobody would believe that monster anymore, not as he's actively destroying the world." She planned in her head. "That'll stay my little secret, and when all this mess is over me and Dipper will talk, and he'll come around and realize he doesn't want to separate any more then I do."

To Mabel's amazement though, the truth bomb never dropped. Rather then the tried and true psychological warfare tactics Bill had used to perfection during his time as a disembodied psychic essence, the fully corporeal demon, perhaps drunk with the power of his new physical form, attacked and battled largely through physical means, and was eventually killed by a a basic con launched by the older two Pines Twins.

As she watched Grunkle Stan lose his mind to ensure Bill's death, Mabel quietly breathed a sigh of relief amidst the emotional anguish of it all. Her secret was safe, buried among the dead. _"And hey, Grunkle Stan got his memory back right after, so everybody wins!"_ Mabel of the present day thought to herself.

Then, they did what came naturally to a bunch of people who just looked death in the eye and spat in it before merrily skipping away: They threw a party! The birthday twins were the talk of the town, even though not everyone Mabel had expected had shown up. They got plenty of good gifts and an even better series of thanks, apologies and congratulations from all over town for what they'd done. Mabel was happy to have some friendly words after the recent experiences, but Dipper would continually redirect credit for their victory to Grunkles Stan and Ford, clearly unused to such praise and positive attention.

Towards the end of the party, Mabel was off talking to Pacifica Northwest, both to thank her for the gift the former rival had given her and demand a minigolf rematch if the twins ever returned to the town. "So, you guys will really be gone when this party is over?" She asked, actually a little downcast.

"That's how it's gonna be, yeah." Mabel replied nonchalantly. At the back of her mind, she remembered her statement to Dipper in the bubble and his response, but she had spent the entire party hoping, no, knowing he'd change his mind when it was all over. "It's time to go home and grow up, I suppose."

"I just... wish I'd gotten to know you two earlier." Pacifica said with regret. "Maybe we could have hung out more, gone and... done something I guess..." She was quiet for a moment, then looked up at Mabel. "Take good care of Dipper, okay?"

"You know I always do girl!" Mabel replied back playfully, swishing the cup of soda she had in her hand. Before she could speak anymore, the topic of conversation walked over to them.

"Mabel, hey, there you are!" Dipper called as he approached. "Oh, Pacifica, hi!" He added, then looked at her kind of uncomfortably. "Hey, uh, don't take this the wrong way, but can me and Mabel talk alone for a minute? It's, you know... twin stuff?"

Pacifica nodded understandingly and walked away to refill her own drink. "So, having fun bro?" Mabel asked right away. In response, Dipper got a bit of nervous look on his face despite his currently brimming smile.

"I mean, I don't normally like parties or having so many people around, but today feels good. I mean, really, really good." He explained, before getting more serious. "But, things are winding down, and since no one's left yet, I think it's time we, well, make the announcement."

"What are you talking about Dipper, what announcement?" Mabel asked, a confused little smile on her face belaying the sudden knot her stomach had twisted into. _"He... He couldn't be..."_

"That I'm staying in town to be Grunkle Ford's apprentice."

In a instant, Mabel felt like she'd been shot. The familiar barrier she'd built around her feelings of sadness and doubt regarding her twin, the shades she'd drawn closed on the reality of the situation, the walls of denial, all of them shattered at once, flooding her with negative emotions. The tears quickly entered her eyes as she made a few babbling noises before managing to finally put things into words. "But... but... Dipper... why?" _"Why would you abandon me!?"_ she thought more clearly.

Dipper was sad to see his twin upset, nervously rubbing his arm, but had an edge of determination in his eyes. "Well, I still had some doubts even in the bubble, but I put them aside to focus on beating Bill. But this party, all the people here... it solidified things. It's not just about fulfilling my dream Mabel. The people in this town, I've made real friends in this town Mabel, more than any other time back home I feel like I belong here. This is a chance not just to fulfill my dreams, but to spread my wings and get to know a world that accepts me."

"What about me though, Dipper!? What about your sister!?" Mabel demanded, teary eyed and upset now. "Don't you feel accepted or whatever with me!?"

"We'll still be in touch, I'm not going to exit your life completely." Dipper said reassuringly, albeit with a nervous pang as he dodged Mabel's last question. "I'll visit for the holidays and we can communicate with email and phones."

"But... but what about growing up together? Facing life together? What about our twin bond!?" Mabel asked, growing less composed with every word.

"Mabel... we're growing up into very different people." Dipper replied, trying to hold a very steady tone despite the fact he was upset as well. "The events of this summer proved that. Going with you back to California won't change that. I have to take the opportunity that Grunkle Ford has given to me now, you understand? Every day I don't spend here, studying my dream, is lost forever. You're my twin sister Mabel, I'll always love you, but I can't say no to this opportunity, it's a chance to do things no one else in the world has ever done before, I can't just waste it!" He explained, before trying to put a hand on Mabel's shoulder, only for her to slap it away and run off.

Dipper watched her go, a frown on his face, but after a moment decided to let her have some time to figure out her feelings while he informed the crowd about his new vocation.

Sometime later, after all the guests had gone home, Mabel had emerged, her tears dried and a smile on her face. She'd found a quiet place to cry for a little bit as her thoughts stormed, before finally hitting on an idea that made her happy: Their parents. _"Mom and dad aren't just going to let Dipper move away from home at the age of twelve, actually thirteen by the time we get back. Not to life with an incredibly shady relative we barely know anything about!"_

Then however, she learned they weren't taking the bus. Both pairs of Pines Twins would be traveling back to California in Stan's car, to introduce the younger twin's parents to the real Stanford and Stanley. Mabel packed her things, certain she'd be staying back home, but was put off by how confidently Dipper only packed the minimum for a few nights at most back.

After promising Grunkle Stan he wouldn't chew on the seats, Mabel loaded Waddles into the car and spent most of the ride cuddling him, too internally torn to speak up.

The car ride back alternated between awkward and happy, as whenever the vehicle fell silent Mabel's downcast attitude pervaded the other three, so to keep the silence away Ford relentlessly quizzed the rest of the family about the Pines Parents he was traveling to meet. This in turn generated lively enthusiasm (that was only occasionally forced) and conversation from the rest of the family, with even Mabel joining in and rising in spirit. The longer she talked about them, the more she was sure her parents would shut this whole crazy thing down when they heard about it. However, even the conversations had their awkward points:

"So, uh, not to intentionally change the subject, but I just realized we need to make sure of something." Ford spoke up. "We're going to tell them the truth, right?"

Everyone became quiet, surprised and nervous about this. Truth be told, no one in the car had truly thought about what the conversation with the parents was going to consist of. The longer they thought about it though, the more uncertain they all got about it.

"Yeah, we'll tell them the truth! No more lies among the Pines family!" Stan yelled triumphantly from behind the wheel of the car, only to instantly grimace and visibly reconsider. "Well, okay, what if we tell them most of the truth, but we change a little detail here and there? But not so many that it stops being majority truth! Add the lies to the top of the steak, not cook the steak of a liar cow meat."

"What if... what if instead of the portal, we say you started impersonating me after I vanished into a South American jungle thirty years ago?" Ford suggested, and Stan instantly brightened up at the idea.

"Oh that works perfect!" He said happily, before smugly holding up his right index finger, letting go of the wheel in the process. "I actually know some Portuguese that will help make it more authentic, so listen up Poindexter, because this time I'm going to lecture you!"

While Stan launched into his explanation of thing, Ford turned his torso around to look at the kids in the back seats, giving them a concerned expression. "Now, you two know you need to not mention any of the supernatural things you saw this summer to anyone except me and Stanley, right?"

Dipper quickly nodded affirmatively, while Mabel looked more troubled. "But Grunkle Ford, won't that be lying?" She asked with a voice of exaggerated innocence.

"Nonesense, it would only be omission." Ford responded with complete sincerity.

"But, why can't I just tell them what happened?" She asked a little more prodding this time, while Dipper glanced sideways at his sister with a withering expression on his face.

"Because Mabel, it could result in you being unjustly institutionalized." Ford responded patiently. "People always respond poorly to those who have a greater scope of knowledge than they do. Many will refuse to believe any claims you make about the true nature of Gravity Falls and could come to the conclusion you are not of sound mind."

"And if you think that's the worst of it, think of what will happen to ME!" Stan cried out, interrupting his impromptu Portuguese lesson as realization flashed on his face. "I'll be the old, weird uncle who had his kid relatives live alone with him for an entire summer, and when they get back they refuse to talk about anything real that happened and go on about fantasies instead! Do you even know what they'll do to me if they come to that conclusion!?" Stan's voice had a tone to it that indicated he was partially hamming it up to add some humor to the discussion, but underneath that it was obvious he was genuinely frantic about the realization he'd just had. He glanced to his side and added "Ford, we gotta lie hard about all this."

Acknowledging his brother's concerns with a nod of the head, Stanford turned back to the kids and asked again. "Now, do you understand why it's important that you be very careful who you talk to about all this?" This time, he got two vigorous nods of confirmation. "Thank you, that's very reassuring." The old scientist responded, before turning his head back to face the road. "Now, Stanley, would you like to resume the lesson? I'm sure it will all be quite helpful for the upcoming conversation..."

Back in the present day, Mabel frowned to herself and bit her lip a little, whispering against her will "Hot Belgium Waffles was that a weird conversation." while she remembered the fateful talk with her and Dipper's parents.

 _"I'd always gotten along with my parents, for pretty much my whole childhood up to that point."_ Mabel thought to herself, examining past events much more closely this time while contemplating. _"I understood the fact that they new what was best, and they always let me express myself anyways. But when they met the Grunkles, for the first time I think I really disliked what they said and did."_ Blinking to herself, the girl remarked "I guess my thirteenth birthday really did turn me into a sassy teenager."

It had been an awkward moment as the four of them all stood on the front porch of the Pines family California home, the doorbell having just been rung. It was a different sort of awkward than in the car though; That had been the awkward or everyone trying to avoid a difficult topic, while this was the awkward inherent in everyone mono-focused on a difficult topic coming straight at them with no way to dodge it.

The door swung open in swift order, revealing an eager to greet Mr. and Mrs. Pines standing under a "Welcome Home" banner with a few nearby balloons and party horns in their mouths, which they had clearly intended to blow to welcome everyone inside. Instead, the immediate case of double vision in front of them caused both jaws to fall slack and the rolled up party toys to fall to the floor.

Awkward silence reigned again over the Pines family until Grunkle Stan took the initiative, gingerly raising his right arm in greeting and asking "So... how have you guys been?"

The following events were a bit of whirlwind haze in Mabel's memory, as her parents were left sputtering, lost, confused and happy as they found out their beloved relative had a brother they knew nothing about until now. The memories had straightened out and become easier to remember by the time all six family members were squeezed into the dinning room table, and the Stan twins were explaining the more realistic version of their story.

"...and by then all I had to do was avoiding getting bit by any of the snakes in the plane's cargo hold and I was back in the United States." Ford was finishing his story. "From there, it was easy enough to get back to my old home. I was pleasantly surprised to find it in one piece actually, I hadn't expected to have any living family left but, well, there he was. My long lost twin brother. Living under my name." He blinked for a moment, then added "I apologize, but I never really figured either of my brothers would go on to have families. Stanley for, well, reasons, and Shermie because I figured, well, I figured the numbers wouldn't work out..."

"They didn't." Mr. Pines stated bluntly. "Things didn't work out between dad and mom."

"Mom, dad, how come we've never met Grandpa Shermy anyways?" Mabel asked from her position at the table, sunk in her chair with arms splayed out.

"We'll explain when you're older sweetie." Mrs. Pines replied swiftly, in a tone indicating she'd like Mabel to shush about this topic.

"But mom..."

"So let me make sure I have everything straight here." Mr. Pines spoke up, a little louder than he needed to. "You're actually Stanley, who I never knew existed..." He said while pointing at the uncle he knew. "...You're the real Stanford, who has been missing for thirty years and are also some kind of genius scientist?"

Ford seemed a little surprised by the visible confusion on Mr. Pines' face. "Wait, how did you not know I was an accomplished scientist? That was all your great grandfather every cared about from me!" With a borderline upset expression he turned sideways to Stanley. "I though you said you'd been impersonating me?"

"I made sure to stay as far away from the family as possible until mom and dad were dead." Stan explained. "Nobody else in the family had any idea I even existed, so I figured I'd just act natural rather than put on a genius act I probably couldn't maintain. Could you honestly see me successfully impersonating a genius!? I mean I'm good sure, but not that good!" He remarked, flinging his arms to the side in then process. Then, he quietly added "Although, I think I might have told Shermie and that awful lady of his that I had the extra fingers surgically removed the first time I met them while pretending to be you."

"Wait, hang on." Dipper asked, feeling the confusion at the table creep into him as well. With a steadily more cynical tone of voice, he asked "Mom, dad, what did you actually know anything about Grunkle Stan when you sent me and Mabel to live with him? Was this summer supposed to have been some kind of fun learning summer science camp with our reclusive genius relative? Because that is REALLY not how it went..."

Before he could continue, Grunkle Stan had put a hand over Dipper's mouth and was shooting his parents an extremely false, jaunty smile. "Woah, hold on kid! Let's handle things one at a time, we still need to get the basic relationships straight here, no need to go adding COMPLETELY FALSE allegations of child labor and police encounters to the confusion. None of which, to be clear, actually happened!"

Stan tried to make his smile bigger and began to sweat a little as he could feel Dipper and Ford glaring at him, but the parents were quick to dismiss the sudden deviation from the topic. "Dipper, whatever you're upset about, I'm sure you've exaggerated it. If you didn't have fun during this summer vacation I'm sure there's no one to blame for it but yourself." Mr. Pines spoke up sternly.

"Your father is right dear." Mrs. Pines chipped in with a sweet tone of voice. "True, we hadn't spent a ton of time with your Great Uncle Stanford... Stanley, sorry, but he's your FAMILY! He was there when the two of you were born! I'm sure he took the best possible care of you two while you were staying with him and that you two had a bunch of fun in Gravity Falls, and I won't hear a word to the contrary!"

Dipper just shrank into his chair with a resigned look on his face while Ford and Mabel shot him a brief look of concern and Stan visibly relaxed. Mabel in particular had an expression of concern on her face as she processed what her parents had just said. _"But that's how they always talk to Dipper..."_ she thought to herself inside _"...So why do I suddenly feel so weird about it?"_

"So..." Mr. Pines spoke up, putting the conversation back on track and gesturing to Stanley. "...You've been lying to us for years about who you are."

"Well... yes, but really no, when you think about it!" Stan replied, getting into his jittery fast talk mood. "I never really pretended to be something I wasn't when I was around you and the kids, I just... pretended I was my twin brother when he wasn't around. If anything, you two should have asked me if I was actually Stanford's long lost twin brother impersonating him if you have problems with that kind of thing!" He said defensively, but after a moment, sunk into his chair with a sad expression.

"I'm... I'm sorry, I understand that you're mad and upset for all of that. But, it was the only way to get back into the family, you know? Dad had thrown me out, cut me off, and didn't even tell Shermy he had more than one brother." The sturdily built old man shrank into his chair and almost looked like a sad, lost teenager for a moment. "If I hadn't done it, I never would have gotten to know Dipper and Mabel, and they're... they're the most important things in the world to me, now."

The two parents in the room seemed enraptured and sympathetic towards Stanley's moment of emotional vulnerability, and to capitalize on it, Mabel nudged Ford with her elbow and whispered something in his ear. Moments later, Ford gave his twin an awkward, twelve fingered sibling hug, and both parents openly daw'd at the sight.

After a moment to compose themselves, Mrs. Pines spoke for both of them by saying "Well, we're still not happy about having been lied to this long, but we can accept why you did it."

"Whatever went down with great grandpa... I've decided I don't care." Mr. Pines added on while looking at the older twins. "Welcome back to the family you two... the REAL you two."

With all that said, the six proceeded to chat normally for a little bit. Ford of course had numerous questions to answer about himself, and the parents seemed genuinely taken by his scientific knowledge and standing, though he had to carefully word his responses to their questions about what exactly he was an expert of.

"I mainly conduct exploratory research, the first, tentative inquiries into newly discovered subjects. It can be anything from newly discovered species to potential new energy sources and even entire geographical regions looking to undergo development. Lots of field work, though I don't think I'll be taking anymore trips to the Amazon." He explained, chuckling a little at the end before getting a more serious tone of voice. "Actually, this is related to something I'd like to discuss seriously with you two. Since my return, I've decided to more permanently settle into the region of Gravity Falls, and make it the center of my resumed research projects. I'm going to need a hand with everything though, and..."

The air at the table changed in this exact moment. Dipper, who had been rather quiet the entire time, perked up and paid close attention to Ford with a warm, reverent look on his face while Mabel cast her eyes on her parents with apprehension. Stan meanwhile was rapidly looking back and forth between the two twins while Ford and both parents were highly invested in their conversation with each other.

"...and Dipper, in the short time I've known him, displays an incredibly strong passion and inclination for the sorts of sciences I specialize in. With your permission, I'd like him to become my apprentice and join me in my scientific inquiries into the land of Gravity Falls." Ford explained, letting the weight settle into the room in full. "Now," he added, "I understand that's quite a heavy request, but I have my original twelve PhD documents in the back of the car if you'd like to confirm them personally, and I believe with all confidence that Dipper, with the proper guidance, could achieve any combination of them and likely many more. This would provide him an extremely marketable set of skills and an insider footing and knowledge of numerous high tech industries, ranging from the industrial to the sociological to the biological."

Both parents were quiet for a moment as emotion welled up in everyone present: Hope for Dipper and apprehension in Mabel. Mr. Pines looked over at his son with a furrowed brow. "Dipper, have you been using that silly nickname of yours around your great uncles? Your mother and I tolerate it around the house but we've told you about..."

"It's not a problem. Mason has, of course, shared his actual name with us, but I have no problem indulging a little nickname." Ford cut in, taking something of a firm tone with Mr. Pines. Dipper, who had begun to shrink in his seat but perked up and seemed to regain confidence when his great uncle came to his defense. Stan just seemed moderately confused by this, but a subtle elbow from his brother was all the help he needed to get the idea that he should cover up his surprise at Dipper's real name.

"Ah, yes, okay." Mr. Pines stuttered a little before resuming the conversation. "You think that Dipper, uh, studying with you, will really allow him to find a high paying job in some sort of technology industry?" He asked.

"At minimum." Ford replied with certainty. "More than simply working in a laboratory for a company, I have no doubts that Dipper has the potential to make enormous accomplishments in numerous scientific fields. Patents, books, breakthrough new theories, he has the potential for all of it."

"I see." Mr. Pines remarked while he and his wife nodded their heads. "And what would the living arrangements be, exactly?"

"Back at my... I mean, Stanley's home. He'd be living in the exact same conditions as he had been all summer." Ford explained curtly.

"I see." Mr. Pines repeated, while standing up from the table. "Honey, I think we should talk this over in the other room, just for a moment." he asked, and got a nod from his wife in return. "Be right back!"

When the parents left the room the table fell silent, everyone either straining to overhear the conversation going on a few rooms over or wrestling with their emotions. Brief snippets could be heard through the walls.

"...Lots of potential apparently, but should we..."

"...Seems nice enough, but..."

"...our uncle, we can absolutely trust..."

"...have thought those creepy books of his would..."

"...summer was so nice..."

"...best way to get ahead in California..."

Finally, the two parents returned to the kitchen and sat down at the table. "Mabel sweetie?" Mrs. Pines asked right away, leaning her head towards her daughter with a sugary expression on her face. "How do you feel about all this? Are you okay with Dipper going away to study with your great uncle Ford?"

Mabel felt like her heart had stopped as the question passed over her, leaving her frozen in place in the chair as a pressure began to build in her chest. _"Why am I tongue tied so suddenly!?"_ Mabel asked in her head while her throat quivered and couldn't deliver a response. _"This is exactly how I wanted it to go! Every time I imagined this conversation in the car it ended in a situation like this, and Dipper stays with me! Why does it suddenly feel so weird to get exactly what I wanted!?"  
_

Looking for answers, Mabel glanced around the table; Her parents were fully focused in her, giving her all the time in the world to compose an answer. Her brother was looking right at her, a hopeful and excited look on his face, clearly remembering what she'd said in the bubble. Her great uncles on the other hand seemed to be intently studying her parents, the two old men having looked confused the moment the parents laid the fate of Dipper's life at Mabel's feet. Finally, she managed to get the appropriate sounds out of her throat, the only idea she could articulate into words.

"I already told Dipper I'd be fine if he decides to stay with Grunkle Ford."

At that moment the air seemed to have shifted with the air of a decision made and the memories began to run together again, becoming less crystal clear. Mabel instantly felt like she wanted to clasp her hands over her mouth and take back what she had said, but the rest of the table had already erupted into further conversation, with some of the seated getting up and moving around. It wasn't as simple as her just giving her blessing and then Dipper leaving of course, specific arrangements had to be made, things had to be packed, legal matters that needed clearing, forms that would need to be filled out, money was discussed at one point, but it didn't matter to the girl. The ball was already rolling downhill and she knew she couldn't stop it.

The rest of the trip passed in a quick, teary blur. Dipper had swiftly packed his favorite things from back home, said his goodbyes, and was soon enough driving back to Oregon. _"I didn't have the emotional strength left to say goodbye to him again."_ The Mabel of the present day recollected, remembering how she watched Dipper wave goodbye to her from the car, her looking out the upstairs window down at him, hoping he'd come back and change his mind the whole while. _"Why did I even say that back then!? Sure it was true, but that wasn't how I actually felt!"_ Of course, before they'd parted again, Dipper has assured his sister that this was hardly going to be a complete separation, and that he'd be happy to see her next summer.

But next summer never came. Mabel began high school that year, and it turned out to be just as bad as Wendy had made it sound. Without the help she'd always gotten from Dipper, she floundered in class and ended up requiring summer school numerous times. _"But this year I did it!"_ Mabel cheered to herself, trying to leave distressing thoughts eating the bus' dust. _"I buckled down, studied hard, and carefully selected mostly Art related courses! C+ average baby!"_

More problematic though were the new, and often intense mood swings Mabel had started to develop as she went it alone, being prone to flares of morose anger in the face of adversity. _"That little homewrecker had it coming! She scared off my perfect guy, who happened to sound like Mermando to boot!"_ she suddenly thought to herself as a now familiar hot flame lit up in her chest. These bouts of temper would have gotten Mabel in trouble numerous times if it weren't for all the law-evading tricks Grunkle Stan had taught her during that fateful summer. _"They'd even helped me out in the dating game, thanks Grunkle Stan."_ Mabel thought with a bit of cheer at a particular memory. _"The combined might of a locked window, conservative parents and the apparent safeguards of God were no match for the 'Ol Jersey Window Cleaning! That was a fun night, I hope his parents never found out."_

There had been boy dating during this time period, of course, as Mabel's boy craziness only got stronger as she went through puberty. The collection of faces had already begun fading together just like the rest of her memories of unpleasant high school, however, as none of them had really lasted. _"Just like in Gravity Falls, none of my epic high school romances ever seem to work out. Everyone's a creep, or a jerkass, or just doesn't make me happy."_ Mabel thought to herself glumly, before getting a little smirk on her face while her cheeks glowed a dim pink. _"Still, no matter what Dipper's been up to out here, I am 100% confident that Da Mab' has still got way more game than his nerdy butt will ever see."_

Fading into better memories now, Mabel curled up a little and resolved to wait out the rest of the trip with a smile. _"Piedmont's not so bad! Dipper doesn't know what he's missing!"_ Mabel thought to herself while the scenery flew past her. _"Weather's always great, lots of friendly faces, the big city is just a train ride away, late night adventures with the girls, stimulating night life..."_ She recollected. While her patented Mabel charm didn't seem to have the same universal appeal in high school as it did at lower grades, the girl had still made herself a collection friends that were always down for her zany adventures. _"Yeah, I've had plenty of fun in high school!"_ Mabel assured herself with growing confidence. _"In fact, I bet Dipper is the one whose bored out of his mind up here! I bet he'll be begging to come back with me after a story or two about how awesome my high school experience has been so far!"_

With the home troubles intentionally forgotten, the remainder of the trip passed in the blink of an eye, and soon enough, Mabel stepped off the bus. Breathing in that crisp forest air, she looked about for the expected welcome crowd, doing a little spin in place even before she located them. When the girl's eyes fell upon the group, they widened with surprise.

It was the group she'd expected, in all honesty: Wendy, Soos, Melody, Grenda, Candy, both Grunkles, and of course, at the front of the crowd, Dipper himself. But, just looking at her brother, Mabel could tell something was different. Wasn't enough to stop her from hugging him, of course.

Though the two moved to embrace at the same time, Mabel crossed the gap much quicker and nearly tackled the boy to the ground with the ensuing glomp. The two hugged without awkwardness, then separated after a good while. "I'm so happy to see you again Mabel!" Dipper broke out grinning, then stammered a bit. "I mean, objectively it hasn't been that long since we last saw each other, during Christmas, so I guess I mean see you here, back in the Falls..."

Mabel looked really hard at her brother. She had seen him in his older form of course, when he kept his promise to visit her during holidays, but there was something different this time. He was taller now, obviously, a little bit taller then her even though not by much. He was still entirely clean shaven ("Lab hazard" he had commented when she'd tried to tease him over still not having a mustache over Christmas dinner) but seemed a little bit more well toned and muscly. Though still nowhere near a hunk, he'd lost most of his baby fat and his arms were far less noodle-esque. But more then the physical changes she had observed during his visits to her, Mabel was perceiving that her brother was... lighter somehow. His face lacked many of the old stress lines that had marked it, he walked with more certainty to his step. Here, in Gravity Falls Mable realized, Dipper was comfortable, in his element.

Without her.

Forcing a smile to her face, Mabel cut off his stuttering. "Oh I gotcha ya big dork!" She said in a cheerful tone. "So I can tell you haven't changed, how about showing me what everyone else has been up to?"

What followed was a flurry of reintroduction, happy welcomes and promises to have longer, more in depth catching up at a later date. The sun was already setting and Grunkle Stan seemed eager to shoo everyone away so his darling niece could rest after her long trip.

The family drove through town to reach the Mystery Shack, driving slow to let Mabel take it all in. Though the town was much as she remembered it, there was a hollow air to many of the town she passed by. Looking closely at the buildings, it suddenly made sense: they'd been rebuilt to resemble the old buildings exactly, but had been done cheaply and presumably quickly, leaving an uncanny valley feeling to someone familiar with the originals.

"People in town just want to forget Bill ever happened." Dipper remarked grimly, picking up on his twin's thought process. "I can't really blame them for wanting to forget the terrible things that were done to them, but sometimes I worry they'll just restart the Society of the Blind Eye with how much people shove it down. It's why me and Grunkle Ford are doing research into the aftereffects of Bill's time in our dimension, to try and understand what risks we might still be facing."

"Dipper, don't bring your sister down with that kind of talk, alright? This is a happy reunion." Stan spoke up from the front of the car, then more warmly added "Don't worry pumpkin, the people here in town will never forget you! Everyone's really excited to see you again."

"We're here!" Ford announced as the car pulled into the shack. With the return of the older twins to the premise when the world voyage didn't pan out, Soos was originally afraid he'd have to leave behind his roll as Mister Mystery, but Stan had been determined to see his retirement stick. The old con man moved into his old room on the premise, Soos and Melody got an extremely cheap house in town with the proceeds of the tourist business, and Ford agreed to pay all of the utilities using his patent money, since his now active laboratory was a major electricity hog. In a move Stan never thought he'd be willing to do, he had to use his skill to negotiate a worse deal for himself, as Soos was entirely willing to put up the Pines family for no charge when they first announced their comeback.

"I've got to show you what we've been working on!" Dipper said excitedly as Stan fiddled with the locked door, the place having closed up early today. As the family walked through the old tourist trap, Mabel breathed in the dusty air, happy to note nothing had changed about the old house of oddities. Then, they approached the vending machine.

Mabel stood curtly, with breath held as the elevator descended to the lab below. The girl did not look upon her memories of this place fondly, and grew more reserved as the doors opened and it revealed the two scientists had been busy: The walls were lined with samples and charts, inventions that might be half completed or non-functional, and at some point a ping pong table with several chairs had been hauled down here and piled with Dungeons, Dungeons and More Dungeons books and papers.

Finally, Mabel was escorted to the room that changed her life forever.

"You... you guys rebuilt the portal?" Mabel said, half surprised and half fearful, as the great machine once again dominated the underground cavern, currently inactive but with glowing lights and nearby computer terminals indicating it was very much operational.

"It's not a portal anymore." Dipper remarked while walking over to a computer and shaking the mouse to dispel the screensaver. "With Bill dead, we figured it was safe to resume our research into the multiverse, but for safety reasons we rebuilt the pieces into a viewer, instead of a portal." He indicated to a collection of data on the display Mabel couldn't make sense of. "With this viewer, we're able to survey alternate realities, analyze air composition, gravity levels, energy waves, and even the physical laws that differ from our own! It's so amazing out there Mabel, there's endless dimensions of alternate human knowledge and..."

"Okay, okay, I appreciate your attempt to help Mabel get to sleep after her long bus ride, but you're giving ME a headache with all this science mumbo jumbo." Grunkle Stan interrupted. Though his tone was deliberately a shade of over the top brusque, he did betray a small degree of unease at being down here. "Come on Mabel, I'll show you back to the attic room."

"Be right with you sis!" Dipper called after them as the two energetic twins stepped into the elevator.

As soon as the elevator doors closed, Stan removed his glasses so he could rub the space between his eyes in confusion/frustration. "I can't believe they rebuilt that damn thing and are so proud of it, after everything that happened..." He suddenly looked over at Mabel, a little regretful but then with a forced smile. "But hey, you don't gotta worry about any of that nerd junk pumpkin! First thing tomorrow your favorite Grunkle's gonna take you anywhere in town you wanna go! Gotta lotta catching up to do with all your friends, eh?"

"Thanks Grunkle Stan." Mabel said with a smile, then got a little quieter. "So how's Dipper been these last couple of... years?" The last word tasted bitter on her tongue.

"He's been doing good." Stan spoke more curtly then usual, able to tell Mabel was in a delicate state and trying to scrounge up some uncharacteristic tact. "Spends his days running around the town and woods with poindexter, then works the nights away in the lab, always excited no matter how boring it all is."

"Does he have any friends?" Mabel asked.

"He kept up with the old crowd pretty well until Wendy got shipped off to that lumberjack camp, which by the way, she's still supposed to be at, so don't spread around that she came back to see you, and kinda stopped hanging out with anyone besides Soos." Stan replied, then perked up in remembrance. "Oh, and he hangs out with the Northwest girl pretty frequently, even convinced her to show up for basement game night on the weekends." he added while the two stepped out of the elevator.

Mabel was confused at this. Yes they'd parted on good terms, but it seemed an unusual step for both of them. "He's hanging out with Pacifica?"

"Yeah that's her name, and waited until she lost all her money to do it to." Stan snorted as he opened the door to Mabel's room for the summer. "But enough of all that, I'm sure Dipper will be more then happy to talk your ear off about all this tomorrow. Get to sleep early so you can stay awake during all that!"

Mabel let out a chuckle as Grunkle Stan closed the door behind him, leaving her to unpack and change for the night. It was already dark outside when she began, so by the time the contents of her suitcases had been roughly scattered about her half of the room she was ready to crawl in bed.

Right on cue, a knocking came at the door. "Come on in to sweater town!" Mabel called cheerfully, having been energized by the familiar sights and smells of the attic bedroom.

The door creaked open and Dipper, clad in plaid pajamas, stuck his head through the door. "Settling back in okay?"

"Like I never left dippen dots!" Mabel called back, rocking back and forth excitedly on her bed. "It'll be just like the first summer here! We'll stay up here all night, I can tell you all about our parents, how Waddles' is doing, my boyfriends, all the sweaters I've made since you left, how it feels to get pumped full of drugs when my cavities got filled, how I've been..."

"Actually Mabel, I'm just up here to wish you good night." Dipper cut in shyly. Mabel looked at him quizzically, prompting him to elaborate. "I, uh, don't actually sleep up here anymore. I've got my own room down in the basement near the laboratory. Having to trudge back and forth the length of this house every day was really tiring for the first few months here. Don't worry though, you can tell me all about everything tomorrow. Good night Mabel."

And with that, the light was turned off and Mabel was alone in her room. With notably less energy she crawled under the sheets, and shivered despite the heavy blanket sitting atop her.

For as long as they'd lived under the same roof, Dipper and Mabel had always shared a room together, and sharing space with her twin was something Mabel had looked forward to immensely upon her return. _"Our shared living space is one of the reasons we're so closely bonded!"_ Mabel thought to herself, curling up into a ball under the blankets. _"We lived our lives always exposed to each other, it's how we know each other so well!"_ Ruminating over her perspective, Mabel considered the what this meant. _"Does this mean I don't know my own brother anymore... or does it mean he doesn't want me in his life?"_

Ruminating upon such dreary night thoughts, Mabel eventually drifted to sleep.

* * *

A meaningless amount of time later, Mabel found herself floating through a dreamscape, a black void devoid of thought or imagination. It was a far cry from the vivid barrage of color her dreams once consisted of. Though she didn't know it, her twin had come down with a sharp dislike for dreaming at around the same time she had, and his mental realm was similarly bare and self-censored during his restful nights.

The slow, deliberate boredom of waiting in the dark to wake up slowly began to turn to tension though, as Mabel could have sworn a dream did fill this realm, just at the edge of her senses; sights on the corner of her eyes, a solid object passing so close to her that the displaced air triggers her nerve endings but without making contact, smells so thin in the air they activate only the most sensitive spot in her nose.

But the noise though, the noise entered at the edge of her hearing but only got louder. Mabel realized it was her own voice, full of cheer and multiplied by twelve, well before she could make out the words. Then, just when it seemed as though the noise would be discernible with even a micro-decibel more, it fell silent.

Mabel let out a sigh of relief, tense muscles relaxing.

 **CIPHER SITS INSIDE YOUR HEAD**

 **CIPHER LIVES AMONG THE DEAD**

 **CIPHER SEES YOU IN YOUR BED**

 **AND EATS YOU WHEN YOU'RE SLEEPING**

The sound was deafening her every sense, a simple nursery rhyme attacking her skin based nerve endings, her olfactory nerves. She tasted death on her tongue and could see nothing but endless horror through her eyes. She coiled into a ball even harder as the world around her melted into nightmares, her deepest fear and darkest secret attacking her from every sense.

After what was both an eternity and a fraction of a second, Mabel Pines woke up in her bed, still safe and secure in Gravity Falls. Soft light filtered through the room's new, non-triangular window. Her breath slowed from hyperventilation to a steady, normal rate, as she tried to bury what she'd experienced.

 _"Bill is dead"_ , she repeated to herself with her thoughts, over and over. _"And he can't hurt my family anymore!"_

"Mabel! Breakfast!" Came a call from downstairs. "I made your favorite pancakes!"

A smile returned to her face, Mabel Pines resolved to bury her demons far away from where they could hurt her relationship with her brother, then set off down the stairs to set to work rebuilding it.

 _ **AUTHORS NOTE**_

 _Well, here we go again I suppose. I hope the touch ups and expansions here have made the story a better one, instead of just bogging things down and over-complicating them. I'm fully prepared for the fact that my take on the Pines Parents isn't going to be the most popular, but it's one I think would honestly explain a lot about why Dipper and Mabel are the way they are when we meet them at the beginning of the show. Love the idea? Hate the idea? Am I on to something with or am I just crazy? I'd appreciate hearing what you think no matter what it is. Hopefully I've boosted the quality of this chapter and can continue to do so in the future. Thank you for reading._


	2. Three Can Keep A Secret: Chapter 2

Breakfast that morning was puddles of maple syrup with a side of pancakes added underneath them, accompanied with sugar dipped oranges and a tall glass of chocolate milk, a tried and true Mabel favorite. The Pines family sat around the table partaking together, happily catching up with the girl from California.

"...So then I told Chad that if he can't handle a bacon dog, then this relationship isn't going whole hog!" Mabel said with a laugh, eliciting chuckles from the other three around the table. Still grinning, she added "He broke up with me after that." without skipping a beat. The table was quiet for a moment, the three others exchanging uncertain looks. Then, she took the initiative with a question of her own. "So, what is a typical day out in beautiful Gravity Falls like for you Dipper?"

"Well, me and Grunkle Ford have a lot of projects going on around the town and the surviving wilderness, mostly mapping the long term effects of Bill's arrival on the natural and supernatural factors of the environment, which mostly consists of setting and checking survey devices and crunching the numbers they produce." Dipper explained. "You can come with me today, it's a great walk through the woods and all over the town."

"So, what kind of new flavor weirdness can we expect while out and about?" Mabel asked with a grin. "Mermen that live on land? Gnomes that learned how to date? Dipper with a girlfriend? Gideon being tall?" she asked the last with a mocking tone.

"The Gleeful family no longer resides in Gravity Falls." Stanford cut in with a serious tone. "Though you two were able to turn Gideon against Bill Cipher, the overwhelming majority of the town still despised him for forming an alliance with him in the first place. They wasted no time attempting to return him to prison to serve out the rest of his sentence, so he and his father went on the run. Mrs. Gleeful is still around town, poor woman."

"And good riddance to that little creep!" Stan added derisively. "Refusing to buy that little shi..." Stan trailed off as his words caught in his throat, looking at Mabel with sudden apprehension while Dipper and Ford mildly glared at him. "...p sucking barnacle's excuses was the smartest thing I've ever seen those townies do!"

Dipper just nodded in mild agreement while Mabel frowned a little over Mrs. Gleeful, but didn't really give it any further thought, aside from recalling Dipper's recounting of her stalker's turnabout, given while they were prepping their counter-attack on Bill. Dipper had quietly confessed that while staring down the devil serving sheriff and his posse of hardened outlaws, he'd resorted to pulling complete nonsense out of his ass and was completely shocked when it saved his life as well as Wendy's. Contrary to the small boy's hopes, that one act did not inspire Mabel to forgive his history of creepiness with her or the multiable murder attempts made against her family.

The rest of the breakfast passed over discussion of more mundane topics, and soon enough Dipper and Mabel were off for the woods, running and laughing as they did that very first summer, only stopping to check the occasional artificial construct; a video camera tied to a tree, a bear trap laid in unicorn pastures, a trap shaped like a bird house where wireless tags are attached, pollen collectors and air samplers. They ran and laughed like carefree children, jumping from logs and swinging from branches. Abruptly however, a chill settled over Dipper, and he came to a quick stop while frowning as Mabel pretended to be a pirate, swinging a stick cutlass.

"Hey Mabel, we should tread quietly for this next one." Dipper said nervously. "In fact, maybe it'd be better if you head back to the Shack and leave this to me."

"Oooh, Dippen-Dots got a secret experiment he won't share with his best ever sister!" Mabel whistled teasingly. "Is it a research camp for observing the red haired lumberjack in her natural habitat, maybe even while baaaaathing?" she drew out the last word as Dipper got increasingly flustered.

Rather than respond with annoyance, as he normally would when teased on this subject, Dipper got quiet for a moment, before letting out a sigh. "No, I suppose you do need to see all this. I'll never hear the end of it otherwise." He concluded before pushing through the trees, briefly stopping to turn around and add "But I'm serious, step lightly up ahead."

"Ah come on Dipper, I'm just joshing you a little!" Mabel replied while falling in beside him. "So what's this super secret special place you got out here? Did Grunkle Stan finally found that religion based on gambling he always talks about and declare a patch of dirt out here his holy land? Stop by the blessed gift shop and absolve your sins for a... a buck... fifty..."

Mabel's words died in her throat as she broke the treeline and gazed upon a peaceful, elusive grove, a picturesque scene of natural beauty in the middle of the woods, spoiled by a single fact:

The grove was filled with gravestones.

"People were worried he might have done something weird to them, or they just might be contaminated in general, and we had some reports during cleanup of corpses moving or speaking, though we never confirmed if any of those reports were true or just the products of scared, damaged minds." Dipper remarked with equal parts sorrow and anger as dread began to build within Mabel. "The townsfolk decided to bury them away from the main cemetery. They talk about keeping potential zombies far away, but I think they knew that adding a whole new branch to the cemetery would just invite questions, so a mass grave hidden in the woods it is. Me and Grunkle Ford have kept watch for any kind of threat."

Mabel was shivering, chilled to the bone on a bright sunny day as the lines of headstones seemed to stretch into forever before her sight despite it being rather small, for a graveyard. "Who... who are they Dipper?" she asked, not wanting to know the answer that was blindingly clear.

"Everyone murdered by Bill Cipher."

Those words hit Mabel like a wave of sludge, knocking her over and drowning her in a tide of guilt, disgust, hatred, pain. The young woman collapsed to her knees and began gasping for air, pressure building in her stomach until she vomited onto the dirt, her body trying to purge itself of these negative emotions.

Dipper was on her in a second, gently patting her on the back and offering soft words. "It's okay Mabel, just get it all out. This is perfectly normal, the exact same thing happened to me when I can back here with Ford and Stan while everyone was still rebuilding."

"How many?" Mabel asked softly as soon as her throat was clear and she could stand up, away from her own vomit.

Dipper's face became concerned. "I... I don't really think you want to know..."

"HOW MANY!?" She demanded angrily, gushing out tears.

"...113, and we still sometimes uncover bodies in out of the way locations." Dipper stated, then looked at his feet in guilt. "And I couldn't tell you the name of a single one of them. I mean, I know I was never the most social guy, but I should have guessed, I should have KNOWN people had died! It... it was just so easy for it to slip my mind. I mean we won, all our friends and family survived, so we just... had a party I guess."

Both twins stood there in silence for a moment, guilt crushing both of them, though Dipper did not even suspect the depths of emotional turmoil Mabel was undergoing, simply thinking his more outgoing twin had probably made friends with some of these townsfolk who were buried here, not even guessing she was blaming herself for each and every one.

 _"It's all my fault!"_ Mabel screamed inside her head. _"All of these people are dead because of what I did! I'm a monster, a killer, a woman with bloody hands and a..."_

The train of thought abruptly ended as Dipper put his arms around her in a comforting hug. The growing warmth pushed back the self-loathing as Mabel felt her twin come close. _"And a twin who still loves me."_ She realized. " _Even after all these years."_ With newfound emotional strength, Mabel did what she did best with emotional problems; pushed them deep into her mind, locked the door and threw away the key. The pain, the disgust, the guilt and everything but the light receded into her mind's dark depths. When the tears stopped falling, she hugged her sibling back.

 _"And I'm NEVER losing him again!"_ She thought defiantly as the two separated again. Dipper looked about, not quite sure what to do. "Thanks for that Dipper. Now, let's go get your fancy data or whatever!"

Dipper looked back at her with a soft smile, then walked over to the first of the seismic sensors, explaining how they worked. "The red light on top activates in response to movement, right now it's being triggered by us." he stated while fiddling a USB flash drive into a side slot. "These things are security devices that you can wire into anything, lights, alarms, automatic doors, and when it detects movement it triggers whatever it is wired to, so Grunkle Ford modified them with a bigger data storage and set them to dump the information into these. Then we have a program in the lab which analyzes it for us."

"Couldn't just lay down some flypaper and see if you caught zombies in the morning, eh Dipper?" Mabel replied with a chuckle as she began to walk away, but suddenly realized Dipper wasn't following her.

Her twin brother seemed to be ignoring Mabel, have stopped his walk away to look over the grove one more time. "Dipper...?" she asked with trepidation, freshly buried feelings threatening to snap free.

"This is what we're working to avert." Dipper stated with resolve, after a long moment. "In the world Great Uncle Ford and I will build, the human species will be free from mass slaughters and dark predation, for we will be armed with knowledge." he said with firm resolve in his voice, unclear if he was meant to be addressing Mabel or not.

The twin sister seemed a little uncomfortable by Dipper's turn for the broody, and quietly mouthed "Uhh... that sounds great Dipper..." just to have something to say, but the uncomfortable moment was put behind them as the two vanished back into the forest together.

A shame they didn't notice the seismic sensor was glowing bright red, and showed no signs of going out.

* * *

The twin's journey took them into the town proper next, with a friendly face welcoming the female mystery twin back to town every couple of steps. Though officially Dipper was out in town to collect water samples, he was happy to take it slow so his twin could socialize.

As the two passed a little restaurant on the side of the street, Dipper abruptly pulled Mabel into the outdoor dining area and plopped her down on a table already occupied by someone she didn't recognize. "Hey, glad I caught you today, would hate for you to miss Mabel coming back to town!" Dipper exclaimed excitedly.

Mabel cocked her head sideways in confusion, until the table's occupant pushed aside their ice cream float and lowered her sunglasses. "Pacifica Northwest!?" Mabel asked, surprised and a little confused. Though still a tall, purple clad blond like she'd been years ago, the local heiress looked different. It abruptly occurred to Mabel she was devoid of makeup, seemed short on obvious jewelry, and was wearing a much lower quality version of her "discreet" outfit she'd worn when she'd first asked Dipper for help all those years ago.

Though her eyes looked tired, the Northwest grew a genuine smile at seeing the twins. "Welcome back Mabel. Sorry I wasn't able to come out and greet her Dipper, I just... lost track of the date."

"It's alright, everyone forgets things." Dipper replied, returning her smile. "Mabel, Pacifica's been helping me a lot with Grunkle Ford's research over the years. Remind me to tell you about the time we were trapped on top of the water tower and she pushed a vampire off of it!"

"It just feels good to help with something that matters." Pacifica responded. "Your brother is doing some really amazing stuff out here Mabel. He's a real genius." she complemented as Dipper pulled his hat over his face and blushed a little, while a complementary ice cream float was placed on his side of the table.

Though her outward smile was maintained, Mable was feeling confused and mildly upset by the scene in front of her. Mentally, she pictured sparks flying out of her neck beneath a stiff smile as her brain calculated on overdrive. _"Waaaaait a minute here, Mabel's matchmaking mind is picking up some chemistry in front of me... Why wouldn't Dipper tell me about this?"_ Then, she mentally slapped herself. _"Because he doesn't recognize it, the big dork. But still, why didn't he tell me about Pacifica at all? He hasn't mentioned her once, not over the internet, not during the holiday, not nothing! Did... did Dipper replace me? Well, no bleach blond stereotype is gonna steal my spot as Dipper's mystery buddy!"_

"So you're helping Dippen-Dots out with all his research huh? What's he got you doing, running on a hamster wheel to power the laboratory, or are you testing new cosmetics out before they move to animal testing?" The twin asked teasingly, preemptively playing it off as a joke.

"Mabel! That was rude!" Dipper chastised, and Mabel flinched involuntarily. She hadn't expected Dipper to respond so strongly. "Pacifica is more intelligent then you think." Then he looked over at the other girl and said apologetically "I'm sorry for that Paz, Mabel didn't mean anything, she's just, uh..."

"It's alright Dipper." The blond waved off. "I know from all your stories Mabel is just can't help being a little different. I'm sure she didn't mean anything by that and thinks those are very important roles in the process of discovery." She said warmly to Dipper, before addressing his twin, still smiling but somewhat barbed in tone. "I might not be on the same level as your brother or your great uncle, (but then again who else is?) but I did have the best private schools and tutors money can buy growing up, so I keep up with them and help out where I can. It's all really fascinating."

Mabel narrowed her eyes a little while Dipper continued to look uncomfortable. "Well, I'm still sorry about that, but thank you for being so understanding Paz. Anyway, me and Mabel need to finish up our sampling for today, maybe we can all hang out more tomorrow?"

With the twins disappearing down the street, Pacifica Northwest's expression fell and she resumed drinking her ice cream float. When it was drained to nothing, she meandered around town until the sun began to set and it was time to return home.

Home for the Northwest family was a small, poorly maintained house on the opposite side of town from their former manor. In the aftermath of the huge financial losses they sustained when their local industries had been annihilated in the apocalypse, Preston Northwest had opted to liquidate the majority of the family's assets and try to rebuild back to the opulence they'd once enjoyed, despite the fact that the remaining money was more than enough for a family of three to live safe, secure and without a need for work at a middle class level for a lifetime.

The current house was a reflection of this determination: It had been low quality even before the town turned into a hellscape and killed the previous owners, but the Northwest Patriarch refused to invest a cent into repairing it, fully confident they'd be moving back into a mansion in no time. Instead, he'd opted to add a high tech office space to the dilapidated shack, within which Preston would lock himself for days on end, traversing the modern electronic market in an attempt to turn his liquid assets into a new business empire.

Pacifica entered her house and made her way to her room, seeing neither her mother or father about. This made her happy.

Retreating to her room, a small, cold space with a few personal effects, Pacifica carefully shut the door then reached under the air mattress that she slept on to review her own plans for rebuilding the family fortune.

Scattered across dozens of loose pieces of paper were sketches, schematics and plans for dozens of hypothetical products and services with only a single thread connecting them all: they were all the product of the research into the supernatural the Pines family had conducted. If these rough sketches could survive the long road to final product, she'd have the means to take the market by storm, a line of products light years ahead of the competition technologically and impossible to reproduce or knock off.

It was a tenuous dream, Pacifica realized, but a dream none the less. For the moment, all she can do is help the Pines family progress forward and hope the Northwest family fortune is still there by the time she's old enough to use it.

Across the house, inside a tightly locked office illuminated by a dozen computer screens, Preston Northwest fiddled away at the stock market, attempting to multiply his slowly dwindling fortune on get rich quick stock schemes. Unfortunately the man's economic prowess are were somewhat underdeveloped, as the gears of the Northwest industry were in perpetual motion well before he was born, and over the course of his life the most he'd needed to do to stay rich was not cause a catastrophic disaster.

But now such a disaster fell upon him through no particular action of his own, and Preston had no way to solve it. He couldn't even resort to white collar crime, since all the experts who'd traditionally worked with the Northwests in that field were unwilling to become involved with a family in such a precarious position, afraid they might not be able to buy their freedom should it go badly.

 _"I'll show them. I will show them all the price of abandoning the Northwest family."_ Preston thought to himself as his tired eyes and fingers worked away. _"The investors, the townsfolk! My treacherous wife, already searching for a new meal ticket. My daughter, consorting with commoners!"_

"I'D INVEST IN WATER PURIFIERS, CYANIDE AND COFFINS!"

"Who's there!?" Preston called angrily, reaching across to a nearby drawer to retrieve the contents in a rush. The answer came to him however, when every screen in the room suddenly projected a glowing yellow background with a single, unblinking eye starting back.

"JUST A FRIENDLY LITTLE DREAM DEMON DROPPING IN TO HELP RETURN MY HORSEMAN OF THE APOCALYPSE TO THE LAP OF LUXURY! I MEAN WHAT KIND OF DEMONIC FIGURE WOULD I BE IF I DIDN'T HELP MY FAVORITE HUMANS FULFILL THEIR CORRUPT DESIRES?"

Throat tightening up in fear, Preston stuttered back "No... no you're not here, you're dead! Leave me alone!"

"WHAT'S WITH THE HOSTILITY HORSEY? GETTING COLD FEET ABOUT THE WHOLE SELL OUT THE HUMAN RACE THING? SAY, HAVE YOU DONE SOMETHING WITH YOUR FACIAL ORIFICE? THEY'RE LOOKING A LITTLE... SYMMETRICAL. CAN'T SAY I LIKE IT!"

Now shivering in fear, Preston Northwest crawled under his desk and curled into a ball, trying to hide from the gazing eyes. He wanted to scream in fear, but was so choked up that he could barely breathe out "You can't hurt me anymore! You're not real, you're not real!"

 **CIPHER SITS INSIDE YOUR HEAD**

 **CIPHER LIVES AMONG THE DEAD**

 **CIPHER SEES YOU IN YOUR BED**

 **AND EATS YOU WHEN YOU'RE SLEEPING**

The simple little rhyme screamed louder and louder inside Preston Northwest's head as he hid beneath his desk long into the night, as his array of computer screens simply continued to display the ever shifting market trends and stock markets.

* * *

The twins similarly arrived back home as the sun was setting, having spent the rest of the day collecting data around town and afterwards Dipper treated his twin to a greasy, unhealthy dinner out in town. Inside the warmth of the Shack, they were kicking off shoes and shedding layers.

"That was a full day there Dipper! How'd you find the time to make any friends with a schedule like that!?" Mabel asked excitedly. Dipper frowned somewhat.

"Actually, we don't do this every day of the week. With the exception of some stuff stored inside the Shack, most of these can be left alone for a day or so, so we alternate collecting data and analyzing data day by day. Not tomorrow though, actually. Saturday is the day off." He explained, then looked at Mabel rather seriously. "Look, I know you didn't mean anything by it, but I need you to be a little more sensitive around Pacifica."

"Oooh, Dipper's picked up a chivalrous side while I was away!" Mabel teased. "And to think that once upon a time you were gonna let her get disemboweled by living golf balls!"

Dipper looked at his feet in response to that particular incident being brought back up, but continued. "I know she hides it well but she's had it rough these last few years. She took awhile to adapt to living normally and her parents are completely uninterested in her well-being anymore. Back when Wendy was still in town I asked her to help Pacifica out over at the town's high school, and I was hoping you'd be willing to be her friend as well."

Mabel's expression softened, and she felt kinda bad now. "Okay Dipper, I see whatcha mean. I'll make sure to apologize next time I see her." she said, while the two began to head upstairs to the attic bedroom.

"Great!" Dipper said, perking up a little. "That will be tomorrow actually. As part of our Saturday off, me and Grunkle Ford have a Dungeons, Dungeons and More Dungeons game we play in the evening, and Pacifica has been joining us for awhile now."

Mabel's mouth was agape. "That fancy rich girl likes that dusty old nerd game?"

At that, Dipper smiled. "Yeah, she was skeptical at first, but she gave it a try and really enjoyed herself. She's a good friend." By then, they'd reached Mabel's bedroom. "Anyways, have a good night Mabel."

As soon as she was alone in her room, Mabel cradled her head in her hand. "Dipper, you are hopeless." She said in exasperation.

 _ **AUTHORS NOTE**_

 _So this chapter introduces two of the longer components of this fic: The aftermath of Weirdmageddon and the relationship Dipper and Pacifica have developed, and how Mabel fits into that. Now, on the first point, as far as this story in concerned, Bill killed people, both humans and anomalies during his invasion of reality, often horrifically and always for his own amusement. I was somewhat let down by how tame the end of the world ultimately seemed after the brief, incredible horror of Preston having his face rearranged (which he recovered from offscreen) and the terrifying credit scene at the end of "Dipper and Mabel vs The Future," so for the purposes of this story, death has touched the town and the scar run incredibly deep._

 _On the second, lighter point: This is a Dipifica fic, though it may be too slow burning for some, I apologize. They're already emotionally close and more or less head over heels for each other already, but have some personal issues holding them back. As for Pacifica specifically, I'm trying write her as still having something of an edge to her. I'm not really fond of stories where her redemption turns her into a complete nice girl. I think some of the flaws and aggressive mannerisms she could still possess despite a few years of trying to make herself a good person make her more compatible with Dipper instead of less. Also, she's trying to learn goodness from Dipper, who while heroic, is hardly squeaky-clean in the ethics department._


	3. Three Can Keep A Secret: Chapter 3

Mabel found herself floating through her barren dreamscape once again soon after falling asleep. Again it was a empty realm, purposefully suppressed during the years since that first summer to hold back the night terrors that left her awake and screaming for the first few weeks back in California.

Mabel's aimless drifting was abruptly interrupted when something rough and wet latched onto her leg and began to drag her though the endless darkness, eliciting an unheard scream from the teenage girl. She was dragged through forever then deposited onto a fancily embroidered tea table, where a warm cup with five sugar lumps sat dissolving in front of Mabel's chair.

She continued screaming for a few seconds, then abruptly stopped and admired the table setup in front of her.

The world around her had changed to perfectly square organic room, pulsating biological matter from organs Mabel didn't recognize making up all four walls, the floor and the ceiling, her tea table a stark piece of normalcy. The wall directly across from her folded back with a sickening wet noise, revealing that a long eyeball on top of a stick was inside the wall. The bloodshot eye stared down at the girl, and the entire room shook when the voice of Bill Cipher reverberated from all sides.

"SO YOU FINALLY OPTED TO SHOW YOUR FACE IN TOWN AGAIN SHOOTING STAR? WELL LET ME BE THE FIRST TO WELCOME THE RETURN OF MY HERALD!" The voice called out mockingly as a puff of confetti was ejected from an orifice in the ceiling, falling limply onto Mabel's unamused face.

"This is just a bad dream." Mabel said to herself, working to remain calm. "Bill Cipher is dead, he can't be talking to me, so this must just be my brain responding to being back in Gravity Falls, and I'm not going to let my brain tell me what to do."

"OH, HAS SHOOTING STAR TRIED TO PICK UP A LOGICAL SIDE IN MY ABSENCE?" Bill asked sarcastically. "WELL THAT ALONE ISN'T ENOUGH TO MAKE PINE TREE LOVE YOU AGAIN."

"Good thing then that I don't need to MAKE Dipper feel anything, our twin bond is as strong and secure as ever!" Mabel spat back, angrily dismissing the voice around her.

"YOU'RE STUPID AND THAT'S WRONG!" Bill Cipher's voiced answered in a bluntly cheerful tone, drawing a frown out of Mabel. "EVEN YOU CAN TELL PINE TREE HAS BEEN HAPPIER THEN HE'S EVER BEEN IN LIFE AFTER LEAVING YOU BEHIND AND LIVING IN THIS TOWN! BUT THE GOOD NEWS IS, I CAN HELP YOU HAVE YOUR BROTHER ALL TO YOURSELF AGAIN, AND ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS WORK AS MY HERALD! IT'S NOT A HARD JOB, YOU HAVE PRIOR EXPERIENCE..."

Mabel tensed up at Bill's latest line of taunts, but quickly picked up her tea cup. "Sorry adorable kitty." she whispered to the design of a cat chasing its own tail around the cup, then hurled the drink into the bloodshot eyeball nestled among the organ material walls, the ceramic shattering on contact into the squishy orb, sharp edges drawing out spurts of black blood and agonized screaming.

"You can't hurt my family ever again Bill! Rot in hell where you belong!" Mabel screamed out as the world around her began to die and she aided it by stomping on any part of the floor that looked sensitive. The thick black blood that pulsed out of the cuts to the giant eyeball was now gushing out of the walls, bursting from veins in the organ layers with sickening snaps. The room filled up rapidly, until Mabel was submerged and drowned, screaming defiance at the dream demon all the while.

The second the dark goop strangled her throat and blocked out her eyes, Mabel awoke in her attic bedroom, soft morning sunlight illuminating her shivering form underneath her covers. "It was just a dream Mabel." she said to herself, trying to calm down. "You're just a little freaked out by that... that mass grave you saw yesterday formed from people you got killed and had a bad dream. Perfectly normal thing to have happen." She rationalized, full aware of the absurdity of the statement. "But Bill is dead and your secret is safe. Just push it all out of mind and get on with the day."

* * *

Stanford Pines was taking a morning walk through the woods. Though today was the day off for the researching family, he kept his senses open as he walked through nature, the gentle mixing of the natural and supernatural world dancing on the edge of his experienced ears.

There was much beauty in these woods that couldn't be replicated anywhere else on earth, and even with the decades of torture and hardship he suffered because of his research, Ford still loved this place and the untold secrets it held, ready to revolutionize mankind.

Indeed, his private war against Bill Cipher eventually came to strengthen Stanford's resolve to push the boundaries of human understanding. It wasn't just a world of undiscovered whimsy and wonder beyond the veil, there was danger lurking in the dark reaches of the world, danger the human race was totally unequipped to protect itself from! How many, across the ages of history, had lost someone to, or been blamed for the actions of an elusive monster than no one believed in and could not be caught?

Such creatures defied the understanding of the humans they preyed on, and to that end Ford intended to expand that understanding, carefully gather results for decades until the time was right to enter the world stage, irrefutable proof in hand! For the sake of the human race, for those who had suffered in silence! For his family...

Stanford stopped for a second and smiled. His family, the ones he's proud to acknowledge relations to, were all together again. Stanley, though still carrying a great many personal flaws (the final straw convincing the twins to relocate research back to Gravity Falls indefinitely was a bar brawl that started over someone trying to stab Stanley to death over cheating at poker), felt like a brother again, content to live out his old age his twin's side, no matter where that took them. There was newly returned Mabel, who held many of Stan's positive traits but had a young, bubbly cheer to her in addition. And Dipper...

Not a day went by when Stanford Pines didn't feel proud of Dipper. Of course the boy was admirable for his natural curiosity and dedication to truth, but Ford ultimately admired him for his wisdom. Though the two walked the same path, Dipper had avoided many of the same pitfalls Ford had, and when he did succumb he learned quickly. The master teaches the student, and the student teaches the master.

Stanford's musing were interrupted when he heard a twig snap nearby. Though his first instinct was to hide in a nearby bush, he held himself in place. He was in Gravity Falls among family and friends, and that was simply one of his paranoid habits he was trying to break. "Hello? Anyone else out here today?"

Dread began to build inside Stanford as not only was there no reply to his query, but that the forest grew unnaturally silent in response while a heinous scent had blown in on the wind. The scientist discreetly felt through his coat to see that one of Stanley's "anti-ladder wielding maniac" firearms, this one a deceptively high powered handgun, that technically was actually Stanford's, was still there, which it was.

He wasn't working to break ALL his paranoid habits, after all.

Now cautious and verging on gagging from the smell, Ford began to move slowly and softly, senses open wide. The silence was deafening out here, a far and unnatural cry from the usually vibrant background hum of forest life. It had been like this in the first few weeks after Wierdmaggedon, when everything living had fled or been killed by Bill's rampaging forces. Even the trees and the grass had seemingly shrunk and stunted in vain attempts to escape notice, while the stench of death permeated every inch of land.

After a short sweep of the area, Ford made a discovery that made his blood run cold.

Painted in blood to the trunk of a tree was an effigy Bill Cipher, drawn perfectly from the tip of his hat to the end of his feet. Sitting at the base of the tree was the creature whose blood had been collected for the drawing, a black bear with its throat savagely cut and its chest cavity torn open, guts spilling out upon the forest floor, curiously short of swarming insects, which would normally be upon such a carrion feast in moments. Despite the immense amount of gore scattered over the forest floor, the tree trunk was immaculate besides the finely done blood painting, free of splatters and running lines.

On instinct Ford waded into the guts of the slaughtered animal and began recklessly striking the trunk of the tree, bloodying his knuckles in the process of knocking loose the chunk of bark the blood was painted on then stomping it to splinters when it was on the ground, rupturing a spilled bit of bear intestine in the process.

Once the wood had practically been reduced to sawdust by his manic stomping, Ford came to a stop and set his hand against the tree, trying to catch his breath and calm his body, which burned with fight or flight instincts and chemicals.

 _"Calm down Stanford, be logical about this."_ the scientist thought to himself. _"We cannot panic and make a mistake... like last time."_

Stanford was thinking back to an incident that occurred roughly a year into Dipper's apprenticeship, one he still carried regret for to this day. Bill Cipher imagery had been turning up around town, first as crudely drawn back alley graffiti, but slowly became bigger and more public over time, while being joined by increasingly creatively butchered stray cats. People were scared, and the Pines promised to investigate.

Stanford, despite his own certainty that the memory gun had killed Bill for good, had failed to control his own fear of a possible return to life by the demon, and to his great shame, that fear infected Dipper. The boy had been relentlessly frightened and paranoid over this possibility, refusing to sleep and staying close to Ford at all times, calling his side "the only place I'm remotely safe if Bill has returned."

Ford would look into Dipper's eyes when they journeyed together to investigate the clues, and saw a mirror to his own pain.

Eventually the trail had lead to a scrap hut out in the woods, inhabited by a single man whose name they never managed to learn: he had no identification and no family or friends could identify him. It was an unsettling thought to all members of the Pines family, and a reality Ford had briefly lived.

Based on a collection of scattered personal journals, he had been dragged under the earth by one of Bill's friends during Wierdmageddon, trapped in a completely dark underground space he just barely fit in, unable to move, and viciously tortured from the dark by things he couldn't even see. Though his writing was scrawled and incomprehensible when it came to the subject of his suffering, gleaned points included rats devouring his legs (which a medical examination found fine), an appendage from the dark plucking out his eyes (which were still there) and his skin peeled back so his nerves could be burned with a heat source, which disturbingly came across as the most possible due to scarring on both arms.

As his writings detailed, terror and hopelessness so controlled this man that he forsook the god he'd been raised to believe in, spewing hatred at Him for not even allowing him to die from this torture, and desperately began calling out to Bill Cipher, whose entrance to this world demonstrated his great power, and endlessly prayed, begged and bargained for even momentary freedom from his torture until his throat went raw, then continued screaming in his head.

The unknown man never truly escaped the hole. As the town returned to normality, he bore deep psychological scars from his experiences (as many residents did) and eventually began to hallucinate his tortures again, and after discarding his identity and fleeing into the woods did not let him escape the monsters in his head, he began worshiping Bill, hopelessly appealing to the only deity with dominion over these monsters. The symbols he scattered across down and the cats he slaughtered were monuments and sacrifices to Bill's glory, material offerings meant to inspire divine intervention.

Of course, the two didn't know all that until well after everything was done, and upon breaching the forest dwelling scrap metal hut, a wildly disheveled and dirty man who'd painted rough pictures of Bill all over his house in bodily fluids attacked them. Noting numerous self-inflicted wounds and a willingness to ignore pain when Ford tazed him, the two assumed he was possessed by Bill, and to save his Grunkle and himself, Dipper found a shovel leaned against and wall and bashed away at the man, who was distracted hitting Ford with a bottle that wouldn't shatter.

Running on rage and fear, Dipper continued striking the man even after he'd been driven away from Grunkle Ford and forced to the ground. In the end, the older man had to pull the shovel from Dipper's grip as he was winding up for another hit, causing Dipper to jump out of his own skin in fear before collapsing from guilt. In the end, they figured out the man wasn't possessed and Bill was still dead. He was taken to a hospital, and eventually a mental institution.

Dipper and Ford had spent a long time talking about this, Dipper's feelings of guilt and pain eating him alive, awful memories of being possessed and tortured that one summer. They hugged, and Ford spent a long time assuring his nephew that Bill was dead forever.

These memories, though painful, filled Ford with resolve. He pulled out his smart phone (unlike Stanley, he had acquired one as soon as he learned about the concept) and shot Dipper a quick text message saying he was going to have to miss game night due to working late. He resolved to determine the nature of this disturbance and close the book on it quickly, and spare Dipper's peace of mind.

Set on this course of action, Ford began searching the area for more clues.

* * *

It was around 3:00 PM when Pacifica arrived at the Mystery Shack, giving a small greeting to Soos running the front before descending down to the lab. Upon turning into the room where the messy game table was and small library of source books was kept, she experienced a small surprise.

"Hey Pacifica! You ready to play?" Mabel asked from her seat on the table while Dipper sat at the head, getting papers ready behind the divider screen.

"Mabel, I take it you're joining us tonight? I didn't know you knew how to play." Pacifica replied calmly, sensing something amiss in Mabel's intensely friendly greeting.

"She spoke up about wanting to give it a try this morning, so I've spent most of the day explaining the basics." Dipper elaborated, "And Grunkle Ford is staying out late looking at Bigfoot tracks before they vanish, so I figured tonight would be perfect for a little oneshot I've been making."

"Sir Thimble-Bob the Sweater Knight of Lollipop Land is ready for action!" Mabel exclaimed in cheer, then got an extremely serious look to her face. "He's a loose cannon who doesn't play by the rules, hunting down the bugaboos who killed his wife."

"Bugbears, Mabel." Dipper gently corrected. "You're dealing with Bugbears."

"Whatever they are, they ain't prepared for the Mabel!" The twin sister exclaimed as Pacifica took a seat across from her, and the game began.

It started off well enough, Mabel's fighter and Pacifica's rogue working well together mechanically. The adventure began simply,with large monsters raiding outland farms that need to be stopped, but took a turn for the worst when they pursued the monsters into the depths of an abandoned mine.

The first sign of trouble was a sealed door a short ways into the mine, barring further travel down but which could be opened by answering a riddle. "I depart with the morning and arrive with the night. I am all around you but hide in your sight. I can survive buried underground for decades, but can be killed with a single pick. What am I?"

"The moon!" Mabel called out really fast, then tapped her chin. "No, wait, that's not right, third sentence. Nighttime stuffiness? Crushing fear about your future? No that's harder to kill then that. Is the answer Grunkle Stan? Are you metagaming Dipper? You said that was bad!"

"Darkness." Pacifica spoke up with a smile on her face, after letting Mable run her mouth a bit. Dipper smiled at her.

"Correct." He said, and began drawing the rest of the map while Pacifica shot a smug smile at Mabel and the other girl frowned back.

The adventure continued to the bottom of the mine, where they came upon a central pit where Lord Bosscrime (as Mabel had taken to calling their Robber Baron adversary) was holed up. Pacifica wanted to circle around and prepare an ambush through a smaller passage, but as Mabel observed the map Dipper had meticulously drawn, she came up with a better idea.

Over Pacifica's objections (Dipper asked if his sister was sure, but she was doing it all in character) Mabel used the fireworks she spent her starting gold on to blast a mine cart down the tracks into the central pit, and with some exceptionally good rolls pulled of a quadrupedal rolling decapitation on the boss and his flunkies, while Pacifica cleaned up the only survivor with piddly arrow shots.

"Clever thinking there Mabel. I think you'll have the hang of this in no time." Dipper complimented, causing Mabel to bask in the praise while Pacifica crossed her arms.

But then, as they were digging through the loot, the Apple of Discord was uncovered. "...And one Dancing Blade, a finely sharpened light blade with a jade dragonfly decorated hilt." Dipper finished, describing the loot from the encounter.

"Ooh, ooh, dibs on the fancy sword!" Mabel called out.

"Mabel, you don't even know what a Dancing Blade is, much less what it does." Pacifica interjected dryly. "If you did, you'd know it would work best in my hands."

"Well, sor-ry that I don't have every little detail of your guy's nerd game memorized to the letter." Mabel replied flippantly, leaning back in her chair.

"Well since you don't, I'll tell you. Dancing Blades are magic weapons that can fly and fight independently of the wielder, and use that persons mental stats as the controlling attribute. Which means my character will get the most out of it..."

"Not so fast, Northwest!" Mabel interjected. "My character's raw weapon fighting skills outnumber your mental advantage!" She said energetically, then glanced down with a frown. "...I think."

The two girls poured over their character sheets, crunching the numbers as Dipper just sat at the edge of the table, growing a little nervous and looking for the exact rules on Dancing Blades to have somewhere to put his attention.

Both the players completed their math at roughly the same time, revealing that their two very different stat blocks added up to make them exactly equal in using the Dancing Blade. As a result, the arguing got more intense.

"Mabel, just pass it to me. You're new and won't use it properly." Pacifica said in a demanding tone, drawing a curious frown from Dipper. She was normally very laid back and informal about the game, and her sudden bout of seriousness was out of the norm.

"I'm the one who took out the boss holding it AND I found it, so it's mine to do what I want with!" Mabel argued back. The two girls stared daggers at each other, before breaking into smiles as it seems they hit on the same solution simultaneously. They turned in unison to look at an increasingly awkward feeling Dipper.

"Dipper..." Pacifica asked softly, widening her eyes at him. "Who do you think should have this?"

"C'mon Dippen-Dots, show some faith in your sister here!" Mabel spoke up cheerfully. "I can handle it!"

"Don't drag me into this argument!" Dipper cried out, clearly nervous now. "This isn't the DM's job to rule on things like this, you guys need to sort it out within the party."

"Are you sure you can't sort this out for us just this once?" Pacifica asked him, but Mabel abruptly cut in.

"Hey, cut it with the puppy dog eyes you meddlesome hussy!" Mabel yelled at her, provoking immediate anger from Pacifica.

She breathed out a shocked "You little brat..." but quickly suppressed her anger, balling her fists and scooting her chair back while glaring at the other girl. "I'm going upstairs to get some cold water."

"You have a bottle right next to..." Dipper stated, but trailed off as the blond pushed the bottle to the floor without even looking at it and walked out. As soon as she was gone, Dipper buried his head in his hands while Mabel perked up.

"So, that was unpleasant, on with the game?" She asked.

Dipper simply let out a groan. "I thought you guys were cool with each other after the whole golf thing." He said in a low tone, audibly disappointed but not directed at anyone besides himself. He pulled his hands from his eyes and looked at Mabel with genuine bafflement. "Is this some kind of girl thing I'm just not getting?"

Mabel waved her hand dismissively. "Nah, I guess Pacifica was still just a mean girl after all. Don't worry about her though Dipper, you sis will keep you safe."

Dipper was actually frowning at this, unnerving Mabel somewhat. "I know you mean well and just want to look out for me Mabel, but you're wrong about Pacifica though I don't blame you for that, you haven't been here to see how she's changed." He described, passion building in his voice. "She genuinely wants to change herself and be a good person, and she's made a lot of genuine effort in that regard! She's a really good friend, and tonight just kind of came out of nowhere."

Mabel was growing increasingly worried the more Dipper talked about her. She was detecting some strong feelings coming off her brother. "And... well, you did kinda start on the wrong foot when you two first met again back in town." He added reluctantly, then asked very seriously. "So Mabel, please, as a favor to me, could you go upstairs and try to talk this out with her? I'm sure Pacifica will apologize if you guys work out whatever is wrong between you two."

"Of course Dipper." Mabel said reassuringly as she got up, then did a little dance of victory as soon as she was alone in the elevator.

 _"I've made my move and successfully drawn the backwards 4 space card right out the gate! I'll sink my little plastic green piece and promote him to checkmate in no time!"_ Mabel thought with glee, remembering a simpler board game the family would play a long time ago. _"I'll uncover this Northwest's true angle soon enough!"_

As Mabel walked out from behind the vending machine, she found her rival standing in front of a sink, holding a glass of ice water in her hands but not really paying attention to it. "I'm guessing Dipper asked you to try and patch things up between us?" Pacifica asked without turning around, as she heard Mabel's soft but quick footsteps approach.

"Oh, so you think just because I'm out of the picture for a couple of years and he gets all sweaty when you bat your eyelashes at him, you suddenly know Dipper better then his lifelong twin sister?" Mabel asked pointedly, finding a spot on a nearby wall for what she could tell was going to be a heated argument,

"I know Dipper better then his twin sister because I actually listen to him!" Pacifica shot back. Mabel was a little surprised, that wasn't one of the several responses she'd guessed was coming. "That's how I also know you so well, Mable Pines. Dipper is always talking about you, about the adventures you two shared together when you came to this town the very first time. He was so excited to have you finally coming back." She finished derisively.

Mabel's brow furrowed in confusion. _"Right, this is not where I was expecting this conversation to go. Was expecting more evil cackling and proclamations of her charms having hopelessly ensnared Dipper's heart."_

"He's so hard on himself in conversation, but once you actually get to know him it's obvious Dipper is such a strong person." Pacifica described, a bit of a far away look creeping into her eyes as she remembered talks and adventures. "He knows what his dreams are and refuses to compromise them, he's harshly intolerant of injustices, and he refuses to let anyone have power over him or those he loves. He's shown me an entirely new way of life, how to be able to live life without being controlled!"

Mabel gave a small snort and rolled her eyes. "Geez, you make him sound like some kind of badass action hero. Pacifica, my brother is an adorable nerdy cinnamon roll who sneezes like a kitten."

"That's because you're his blindspot." Pacifica replied, her voice low and cutting. "Unlike with everyone else, he lets you and you alone control and belittle him. I've heard all the stories: You pick at his insecurities, like his height or his voice. You offered him support over his crush on that lumberjack girl then insulted him over it! As a reward for helping save your mermaid boyfriend, you humiliated him over the internet! You always have to have things your way, and try to destroy Dipper's things when he wants a even a little bit for himself, from his disposable camera to his dreams here in Gravity Falls! But worst of all, you abandoned him when he was possessed by the devil purely to satisfy your own petty, selfish crushes."

"You're wrong! I saved Dipper from Bill Cipher when he was possessed!" Mabel shouted back, but with a twinge of uncertainty in her voice, her own memory of the incident reminding her of her own failings there.

"After he had begged you for help previously, and you left him behind to wander as helpless ghost while his body was relentlessly tortured. You didn't even take him to a hospital after!" Pacifica spat. "Do you have any idea how much that single incident hurt him? Did he ever bother to tell you, or did even he known on some subconscious level you wouldn't care?" She continued, the anger beginning to crack with a tone of worry. "We had a scare here in town a year or so ago, when some lunatic was spraying Bill graffiti everywhere. Everyone in town was terrified he was coming back, and Dipper and Doctor Pines worked night and day to see if it was true, and if Bill could be stopped."

As Pacifica reached the painful part of the memory, she stopped to breathe for a moment. "Dipper stayed so strong for the entire thing, never taking a moment to panic or cry, just kept working no matter what. When they finally figured out it was just a lone lunatic and announced it, the whole town was ecstatic! I ran over to give Dipper a hug in relief, but then... he just, fell apart on me." Mabel was growing increasingly sick to her stomach as she heard all this.

"It started with just some tears rolling down his face, but as soon as I asked him if he was okay, weeks of emotional exhaustion just hit him all at once. He was sobbing, shaking and smiling all at once. He was so scared the entire time that Bill had returned and would take revenge on him, but he kept going even when it was eating him alive because he knew if Bill was back he'd come after you next. He didn't care if he fell apart as long as YOU were safe." Pacifica spat out, her contempt for the other girl dripping from every word.

"Oh Dipper..." Mabel breathed with regret as a crushing weight settled on her, shoulders falling and her eyes clouding over as she began to understand.

Now a little calmer and her face growing harder, Pacifica finished her tirade. "A week or so later, he confessed besides me, only Doctor Pines had ever seen him in that state, and he was hoping I didn't think less of him for it. I told him of course I didn't, and though he didn't say anything, it was obvious he'd been expecting me to mock him over it, like you and Stan do, and was surprised I wasn't." Then, she got rather quiet and practically spat her next few words out. "And that's the worst part. He's never come to realize how terrible you are. You have him wrapped so far around your finger that he blames himself for problems YOU create."

Pacifica was quiet for a moment, unsure if she should be angry or victorious feeling at Mabel's inability to respond. Then, in a much softer tone, she said "I see things in you Mabel, things I was raised to be and want to get rid of. But where Dipper showed me why those things were wrong for me to hold, he still thinks the world of you."

Mabel was speechless after the dressing down she'd received, it's length and passion indicating this was clearly something Pacifica had been seething over and putting into words for a really long time. Conflicting emotions raged inside her, but before she could even begin to think of something to say back, a commotion from the front of the Shack broke the uncomfortable silence.

"Dude, we're closed right now! And even if we were, that's an employee's only door!" Soos shouted up front over the sounds of somebody pushing past him. A moment later a tall man broke threw open the door leading to the back of the building and locked his eyes on Pacifica, whose blood ran cold at the sight.

"Daddy?" she asked quietly, fear having taken over her voice.

 _ **AUTHORS NOTE**_

 _So, here we are. If this fan fic is even even slightly internet famous (got a mention on "The Reason You Suck" Speech page on TVTropes, wooh!) it's for this. Anyone whose a dedicated enough fan to read Gravity Falls fanfiction is doubtlessly aware of Mabel's status as the most polarizing character on the show, and it's pretty obvious what side of the debate I fall on. I don't hate Mabel as a person, but I am disappointed in her as a character. Nothing, at this point, can actually change the fact she was written pretty poorly, so I want to jump headfirst into the unsympathetic mess the show made her by accident, and see if something salvageable is on the other side._

 _...Right, now that I've made sure the review page is going to be a war zone, a_ _lso, gore warning! This story gets bloody in some places! If you could not stomach the more gruesome sections in this chapter, this story may not be for you._


	4. Three Can Keep A Secret: Chapter 4

Preston Northwest was not looking well. He'd dressed back into one of the few suits he'd held onto, but in addition to not having been cleaned in years it was also smudged with dirt and had numerous leaves stuck to it. His eyes were saggy and bloodshot and his mouth was still spattered with cheap takeout.

"Pacifica," he said with an odd, stuttering mix of anger and nervousness, "Get your things, you're coming with me and you're not seeing these commoners again."

The Northwest girl was scared and a little bit saddened by this sight, and found herself unable to move until her father took a threatening step towards her, at which she stepped back.

The next series of events happened so quickly they barely registered to Mabel: First, Preston snapped forward to grab Pacifica by the wrist, and when she wrenched herself from his grip his hand lashed out with horrible speed and slapped her with enough force to knock her off her feat.

Before Pacifica had even hit the floor though, a cry of anger filled the air and Dipper Pines practically flew around the corner and slammed into the Northwest family head fist first. The teenage boy had struck hard enough on impact to draw blood from the nose.

Stumbling backwards, Preston flailed his arms about seemingly at random, but struck with purpose as soon as they found purchase on a large clam that had googly eyes glued to it, sitting on a shelf to work as a tourist attraction, and he rapidly smashed it down on Dipper's skull. The younger man had been hit with the edge of the preserved sealife, and felt a narrow gash trickle blood where it scraped his scalp. "You will not drag my daughter to your level!" The adult man screamed during his assault.

Luckily, the two girls in the room where already in action. Pacifica and Mabel moved with surprising coordination given their current hostility, but in one move Mabel had jumped behind Preston and knelt down behind his knees while Pacifica charged forward and shoved her father backwards, causing him to trip backwards over the Pines twin and land on a glass coffee table, which shattered on impact.

Further fighting was interrupted by heavy footsteps coming down the stairs. "Alright, I can tolerate overemotional family arguments (god knows this place has seen a lot of that) but I draw the line at breaking the merchandise!" Shouted Grunkle Stan, who was entering the room in his casual outfit, slipping on brass knuckles. When he reached the bottom floor though and saw the whole situation, his eyes narrowed and his voice gained a rare tone of seriousness. "Alright rich boy, you have five seconds to get out of this building, or else you'll be waking up tomorrow in an ice bath with two lower back scars."

Preston was climbing to his feet when he heard the threat, glass cracking and localized smears of blood getting on the floor as he straightened out his lacerated back, staring down the five (Soos had run into the room and was trying to strike a cool pose) people opposing him, and with a seemingly desperate look in his eyes, spoke to his daughter one last time. "Pacifica, now! We. are. LEAVING!"

When she refused to budge from her spot next to Dipper, Preston retreated wordlessly, glaring dagger all the while and pushing a jar of eyeball themed super bouncers off the counter as he exited the building.

Everyone in the room had tension visibly leave their shoulders when the door slammed shut, and they all began fussing over Dipper's head wound, as now trails of blood were dripping over his constellation birthmark.

Once bandages had been applied to the head and the boy insisted for the hundredth time that he's taken scrapes worse then this out in the forest, attention turned to Pacifica Northwest, who had found a corner to sit in with a downcast expression.

Dipper stepped over to her, really not sure how to open this conversation. Luckily, she did it for him. "I'm sorry Dipper."

"You have nothing to apologize for." He responded

"Yes I do!" Pacifica yelled back. "You got hurt just for being around me, and who knows what will happen if dad comes back!" Then, she got quiet and looked down at the floor. "I should just give myself up to him. It'll keep you all out of trouble at least."

"No way girlfriend!" Mabel cut in, her argument with Pacifica earlier seemingly forgotten. "Your dad looked like he'd gone completely nuts, no way you're going back to him!" Then, her fiery spirit cooled and she asked softly "How long has he been like that?"

"I... I honestly can't say." Pacifica responded. "He's been angry and short tempered ever since we sold the mansion, and over the years spends more and more time locked up in his office trying to rebuild our fortune. We rarely see each other and when we do it's so he can hit me for "muddying the Northwest name", as if that's possible." A moment after speaking this, Pacifica's eyes widened as she realized what she'd said.

"Your parents have been beating you!?" Dipper screamed in anger and fear while Mabel simply covered her mouth while gasping in shock. Then, his tone softened and he asked, "Why didn't you tell us Pacifica? We would have helped you."

"Because I knew you'd blame yourself." Pacifica said resignedly. "You always do Dipper. If something bad happens just in your vicinity you'll find a way to blame yourself, and if you knew how bad it was you'd make yourself wish I'd never become friends with you, that night at the party." Then, the blond girl stood up and looked in Dipper's eyes, a warm expression growing slowly. "And I never want you to regret that. No matter what the future holds for me, becoming your friend was the best thing that ever happened to me, and I wouldn't change it no matter what."

Then, her expression fell again as Pacifica went to a window, gazing out into the forest. "Besides, even if you did help me get out from under them, where would I go from there? I have no actual possessions of my own, no life skills and no personal wealth. I may... I may hate what they've become, but without my parents I couldn't survive and would have no where else to stay."

"You can stay here." Dipper said without hesitation.

"YEAH!" Mabel cheered from across the room. "It'll be like a non-stop sleepover!"

"Always room for one more under this roof." Soos added in.

"Oh great, you guys decide to start collecting rent on the Northwest after she's broke!" Grunkle Stan spoke up, eliciting withering glares from everyone in the room for his poorly timed sarcasm. "All right, all right, she can stay, sheesh!" He said defensively, then his hardened face softened into a somewhat distant look of sadness on his face. "It wouldn't be easy, having to survive on your own, abandoned by your parents..." he said to himself softly.

Pacifica looked on the verge of tears at this out pour of support. "I... I can't... Thank you, all of you. I really don't know what to say..."

"Say you'll stay!" Mabel called from the back of the room.

"...except that I will pay you all back for this someday, I promise."

In-spite of the very serious atmosphere that had permeated the room, Dipper couldn't help but chuckle a little at the girl's awkward phrasing. "Hey, don't worry, call this one a freebie." He joked, then got a little sheepish and said more seriously "But really, I mean it. I really do respect you for always trying to be so selfless all the time, but there is nothing wrong with asking for help."

* * *

"I'm glad I didn't ask for any help with this." Stanford Pines muttered to himself while trudging through a particularly dense patch of forest. While all of the family drama had been occurring over at the Mystery Shack, he'd spent the day trudging through the deep woods of Gravity Falls examining spiritual locations linked to Bill Cipher, looking carefully for signs of his return.

The reason he had opted not to get help (Dipper would have been his only real choice in the matter) was not so much the increasingly thick overgrowth he was hiking through, but the location that was at the end of it: a simple, moss laden cave entrance hidden among the rocks of the strange cliffs overlooking the town.

This cave was the home of a Native American shaman who had been Bill Cipher's pawn a great many years in the past, in much the same manner Stanford once was: The triangular demon had offered the wise man great spiritual knowledge, so in his journey to commune with his muse and understand the world the shaman spent long hours meditating in this cave, with Cipher iconography painted on all surfaces while consuming psychedelic herbs and mushrooms to achieve the waking sleep needed to access the Dreamscape at will. In fact the only major difference between the two men was that Stanford had developed a synthetic, syringe delivered alternative to munching on random toadstools found in the woods.

As a result of all that, this cave was a spiritual hotspot and possibly a connection to the Dimension of Dreams, though testing on that front was inconclusive. The location also made Dipper extremely nervous and uncomfortable, once bringing him to nervous dry heaving that he thought was Bill Cipher strangling him from beyond the grave, so Stanford preferred to work alone when it came to the cave.

The inside of the cave curved back and forth very shortly after opening to the outside world, then straightened back to normal, ensuring visitors were plunged into darkness almost as soon as they entered. Ford entered with his flashlight at the ready, sweeping over the damp walls with it and confirming everything was still normal.

Then the flashlight died, shorting out with an electrical hiss.

Always prepared, Ford quickly withdrew a matchbox from his pocket and lit a flame.

When light returned to the rock cavern, the man saw something he never wanted to.

During the temporary plunge into darkness, the walls of the cave had become coated in human blood, all carefully arranged to spell out a very clear message for Stanford Pines.

 **CIPHER SITS INSIDE YOUR HEAD**

 **CIPHER LIVES AMONG THE DEAD**

 **CIPHER SEES YOU IN YOUR BED**

 **AND EATS YOU WHEN YOU'RE SLEEPING**

The message repeated over and over and over and over covering every surface of rock, the blood beginning to drip off each letter as if it had just been freshly applied. Underneath Stanford's feet, the earth itself began to writhe as a thick layer of insects and vermin seemingly came to life and squirmed with sinister intent.

Though he was terrified on the inside, the scientist kept his composure and analyzed the situation. _"Must be a psychic projection, blood is too fresh for me to have simply overlooked it upon entering."_ He looked at the floor, creating puddles of grimy bug innards with every move of the foot. _"One of those was a Deinacrida elegans; terrifying, but also exclusive to the island of New Zealand. Floor is also an illusion. Metal plate in the head prevents direct nerve stimulation illusions, meaning this is a product of the cave's spiritual nature. Results... inconclusive."_

Stanford moved for the exit of the cave, walking slowly and trusting his memory more than his senses, as the imagery of the cave was growing more and more horrific in an attempt to frighten him from the exit, dripping blood pooling into a puddle from which crawling chaos emerges as the cramped ceiling seems to stretch forever into a burning sky while the dead and the wicked rise from the bed of squirming vermin.

Ford could see his parents writhing in the vermin swarm below, and wanted to be away from them. He willingly walked into the maw of a great, six eyed dragon whose syringe teeth leaked acid that sat where he knew the entrance to the cave was, and in a moment was back in the muted sunlight of the forest, the sounds of a universe being devoured by entropy replaced by the gentle hum of wildlife and distant moving water.

Ford took a minute simply to breathe in and out, in the crisp forest air, waiting for his heart to slow and limbs to stop shaking. That was the most intense experience he'd ever had in that cave, and he had to assume the worst: Bill Cipher had found a way to return.

* * *

Inside the Northwest town house, Preston shoved his way through the door a disheveled mess, crashing onto a kitchen table chair, across from his wife who was laying face down in a rat poison laced ham sandwich, foaming saliva pooling on the table. The ruined industrialist held his head in his hands and began to sob quietly, a mixture of sorrow and terror in the blubbering noises he made.

"WELL WELL WELLY WELLERS." Came a high pitch voice from nowhere and everywhere. "GUESS YOUR PLAN TO JUST GRAB THE GIRL AND RUN AWAY DIDN'T WORK OUT! WHO'D HAVE GUESSED THAT? YOU DO KNOW HUMAN SACRIFICE CAN ONLY HOLD ME AT BAY A SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME, RIGHT?"

With wordless whimpering, Preston crawled underneath the table, trying in vain to block out the voice. "NOW I WILL ADMIT, I LIKE THE WHOLE "GRAB THE DAUGHTER AND LIVE LIFE AS WANDERING SERIAL KILLERS" THING YOU CAME UP WITH TO TRY AND AVOID ME, BUT YOU STILL TRIED TO DESERT MY SERVICE, SO I GOTTA PUNISH YOU. THEMS THE BREAKS."

Preston, still simply hiding and shivering under the table, felt the clumsily applied bandages scattered on his back rip open, and hundreds of chittering, crawling insects poured from the wounds, piercing his flesh with every step and tormenting his body beyond his eyesight, driving stingers into his spinal cord, crawling inside his ears to chew the eardrum with mandibles, and running wings through his hair. He couldn't see their shapes, but could feel their wretched bodies invading him.

The man was beyond crying, beyond screaming, beyond the reaches of all human expressions of discomfort, for the human species is a social animal, and all human displays of pain or discomfort evolved as mechanisms to acquire assistance from one's peers. Preston Northwest however, knew he was beyond help, that no one would come to his rescue. He was wholly within the demon's power.

As he writhed and whimpered under the table, the insect swarm having been joined by a sickly, bitter vine forcing its way down his throat and blooming into a tree inside the man's lungs, Preston heard the only voice in the world that mattered to him once again.

"YOU KNOW WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO MAKE UP FOR THAT."

And so, after a few minutes, Preston Northwest, back still bandaged and lungs free of flora, stood up from the floor of his perfectly normal suburban home, walked to retrieve a shovel from the garage, then vanished into the night.


	5. Three Can Keep A Secret: Chapter 5

Night had fallen over Gravity Falls and the Mystery Shack was closed for business. Inside the building's den, an air mattress had been inflated and set with a generous helping of blankets and pillows. A couple of years ago Pacifica Northwest would have complained relentlessly about the conditions, but between the scraggy home she wasn't returning to and the adventures Dipper had taken her on, she had become accustomed to dirt and grim, though never fond of it.

Dipper was helping her get settled in for the night and tentatively discussing what they were going to do now. Going to the police was being seriously discussed, which in Gravity Falls indicates the concerned parties are truly at a loss. All the while, Mabel watched them from the next room, equally at a loss.

Her initial worry and uncertainty back had transformed to certainty then gone back to uncertainty again. Meeting Pacifica back in the town had seemingly provided an easy solution to the gap between her and Dipper: her brother's lack of communication with her and strange behavior were the result of a wicked snare cast by this manipulative seductress, probably trying to wrest the secrets of zombie making out him to sell to the military!

 _"But then things got really messed up and I jumped to Pacifica's defense because her dad is messed up and I guess she's not that bad but they're REALLY REALLY in love with each other but it's kinda cute since they're both huge clueless nerds they can't tell but do I want them to know UGH this got so complicated!"_ She thought to herself, but was fortunately interrupted from her difficult emotional struggle by Grunkle Ford smashing through the front door.

Dipper's greeting to his returning relative died in his throat as he took in the state of Ford, who was dirty with small skin cuts and stuck foliage all over his body, a clear sign he'd been sprinting through the forest. But what concerned everyone the most was the grim look on his face, the look of a hard edge applied over fear.

"Code Yellow." He said in a simple, serious tone, then strode across the room to the vending machine elevator as Dipper and Pacifica jumped into action. Mabel simply stood in place, unsure of what to do but with a growing dreadful certainty of what that meant.

The girl was busy pulling armored shutters over all the house's windows and unlocking hidden cabinets on the walls and floors, while Dipper had pried back a floor panel to reveal a hidden generator-shaped device, which he was eliciting a gentle static hum from as he worked its controls.

Grunkle Stan was back downstairs again about a minute later with a scowl on his face. "Stanford, I swear if you've decided to have another code yellow drill on this day, at this time of night, I'm going to take the upstairs yellow light and use it to smash up the downstairs yellow light." However, his attitude softened as he saw the two working quite seriously on the lower levels of the building. "This isn't a drill is it?"

"No it's not Stanley." Ford spoke up, reentering the ground floor, and in response to this knowledge Stan wordlessly held Mabel close. "Dipper, Pacifica, status update?"

"Psychic static generator up and running."

"Windows are secure and the emergency stashes are open."

"And I've reactivated the security system." Ford commented, briefly sliding an armored window plate to confirm that a modified roomba with over sized wheels and an enlarged carrying tank with release chute was spreading an updated unicorn hair solution around the building. Then, he gathered everyone present around the kitchen table to explain the situation.

"This morning when I was performing the rudimentary checks on our equipment, I found a bear that had been slaughtered and it's blood used to paint Bill Cipher on a tree." He explained in a to the point manner. "My first hypothesis was that this could be another deranged cultist, so I opted to check several spiritual locations alone, to hopefully confirm my guess and avert a panic."

Dipper was beginning to shake in his chair as the new became more obvious, while Pacifica put a hand on his shoulder, Stan's expression became hard and angry, and Mabel just looked at her feet.

"My last stop was the Shaman's Cave, and within that... within that I suffered a severe psychic attack, far beyond the ability of any human medium to generate." Ford continued, wavering slightly from the fresh wounds. "For the time being, we must assume Bill Cipher is alive and poses a threat to the world."

"He could have been alive all along!" Dipper cried out, face contorting with horror as he slammed his fists on the table. "It CAN'T be a coincidence this happened right as you returned to town Mabel! He waited until you were back so he could kill us all at once!"

"That sick triangle freak..." Stan breathed, his rage running cold now. "Forget about punching it, if I get my hands on him again I'm carving that eye out!"

Mabel looked up after a bit of uncertain silence had fallen over the table. "I've been having dreams." She admitted, drawing concerned looks from the table. "At first I thought it was just bad memories brought back by being in town, but Dipper's right, it can't be a coincidence. I've seen Bill when I dream."

Ford's expression fell even further at this. "Dipper, take Mabel down to the lab and make sure she's safe. The machine will be activating due to the security system going on."

"Hold on, you're not thinking of using the brain scrambler doohickey on her!?" Stan yelled accusingly.

"The Mental Investigation/Neural Defense device is in its fourth version and is perfectly safe." Ford replied confidently. "Furthermore it's the only way to ensure Bill doesn't have a hold inside... her...head..." The scientist trailed off, the short rhyme the cave showed him coming back.

"It made Soos think he was a dolphin! We're still banned from that sushi place!" Stan yelled back, but Mabel put a hand on his arm.

"It's okay Grunkle Stan." She said softly. "I know Dipper will keep me safe. I trust him."

Ford looked at his brother sympathetically. "If it will make you feel better, you can go with them even though we need more hands up here. Goodness knows I wouldn't be able to stop you."

Instead of storming off with the kids though, the old con artist opted to smile softly. "Nah, I'll give you a hand poindexter. Mabel's right, I trust Dipper too." Then, his grin got wider and slightly malicious, in a way that indicated he was spoiling for a fight. "Now, let's take a look at what you've cooked up in the weapons department!"

Once Dipper and Mabel were aboard the hidden elevator, the boy was the first to speak up. "You said you were having dreams?"

Mabel looked a little nervous at this question, but answered regardless. "Well, yeah, normal stuff, specters of Bill ominously mocking me in realms of sprawling chaos. That kind of thing."

Dipper gave her a soft smile in response. "Hey, that's alright, one of the best things to do about stuff like this is talk about it. I had bad dreams for quite awhile after I came back to town." He explained. "It's not easy to come face to face with death the way you did in the forest, to know you were so close to dying just like they did. Once it happens, and you fully realize how close you came to the end, the thought of death can work its way into your head and dominate your every waking moment."

Mabel frowned and looked away from her twin. "How did you get over it?"

"You never do, not completely. You can't put the realization of your own mortality back in the bottle." Dipper admitted, with a resigned tone, but then added hopefully "But what you can do is find something that's worth living for, something that overpowers the urge to crawl away somewhere lonely and safe in order to cling to life for as long as possible."

Things were quiet for a moment as Mabel processed what he said. "Besides," Dipper added, "I'm not scared of death. I'm scared of Bill, and what'd he do to you if I can't stop him."

Though her brother's concern touched her heart, his words left Mable looking at her brother with fear and concern. "Dipper, do you hear what you're saying? Those were terrible things to say, to live by! You're... you're hurt inside bro, and those wounds need to be healed, not ignored." Then, she spoke really softly and got closer to her brother. "Please, when this is all over, come back with me. Get away from all this weirdness and pain. You can heal back at home."

Dipper looked at her regretfully. "I've... I've thought about it sometimes. Sometimes when I'm staring up at the stars and understanding the relative meaninglessness of human existence or laying bandaged up in bed from a stab wound, I think maybe it would be better if I traveled back to California and just lived a normal life."

"You still can Dipper."

"No. No I can't." He said solemnly. "I've seen too much of the true nature of the world. I wouldn't mentally survive returning to a normal house on a normal street surrounded by people living in ignorance. It'd be maddening." Then, Dipper cracked an uncomfortable little smile. "Besides, those bits I was talking about are just the rare bad day. Most days here are fun or at least interesting."

Mabel's brow furrowed. "Dipper..."

The conversation abruptly ended when the elevator reached its destination. Dipper seemed relived by this. "Come on, lets get the machine going."

Back above ground, the Shack's defensive systems, installed in chunks over the years by Ford, were fully operational. Stan had just gotten off the phone with Soos, who would likely be taking Melody and his grandmother to the safe room the Pines family had freely added to his recently vacated home soon after he bought it.

After that though, not much could be done, for the humans had very little knowledge of what their enemy was up to. Ford was sitting at a radio equipment station hidden behind a wall panel, monitoring local frequencies for signs of trouble, while Pacifica had plugged a laptop into a USB port hidden behind a light switch, giving her access to the building's sensor suite, which she was observing for anomalies.

Unfortunately, neither detection system was able to locate the enemy, which moved unnoticed until Stan, by chance, opted to crack open an armored shutter just an inch to look outside the building.

As a result, he was the first to gaze upon the army of the dead.

Deep below in the sound protected basement laboratory, Dipper had successfully strapped Mabel to the chair of the MI/ND Device, an improvement on the technology he and Grunkle Ford used to fortify their minds against Bill Cipher years ago.

"So this stuff will keep Bill out of my head forever, right?" She asked.

"Not right away." Dipper replied regretfully. "The mental encoding process takes hours, and we don't have that right now. So instead, I'm going to use this to locate any presence or influence Bill might have inside your mind, and remove it with the machine's integrated McGucket neurodrive."

"You're going to use the memory gun on me?" Mabel asked nervously.

"It's an improved model!" Dipper said with apologetic haste. "Despite the risks associated with it, the memory gun's ability to kill psychic entities and free their victims was too useful to throw away. We got really lucky with Grunkle Stan regaining his memories, so we refined the device. With the aid of the direct neural link of the larger machine, it can locate and destroy just Bill."

"Don't worry Dipper, I told you already that I trust you." She said, then got an excited look on her face. "Now come on, let's burn that sick shape outta my head!"

Back above ground, the three had gathered around the cracked window to gaze upon the army of the undead gathered outside. Red eyes glowed on the dark as emancipated, malformed bodies swayed in the soft moonlight.

"So, we got zombies." Stan remarked. "Time to turn on the sound system?"

"No. If these are Bill animated zombies then they're controlled by a very rudimentary interface of Bill's mental powers connecting with the remains of their nervous systems to propel the withered remains of the bodies, as opposed to pure necromantic reanimation." Ford explained.

"You lost me at If, but I get the point."

"The thing is, Bill can't normally reanimate the dead purely by his own will." Ford mused. "Dead brain tissue doesn't interface with the Dimension of Dreams the way living minds do, so to touch them he needs physical presence. If he had a physical form again, we'd know by now, so that means he must have physical conduit."

The unspoken question of who this unknown acolyte could be was answered quite quickly, as one of the crowd stepped forward, triggering the Shack's motion sensor lights and illuminating the form of Preston Northwest, who looked like more of a wreck then ever. Probably because he was dead, the three realized simultaneously.

The ruined aristocrat moved with the same jerky, rough puppeteer movement that the other zombies did, his suit was deeply stained with dirt and drying blood, and he had an immense gash carved onto his lower neck. Pacifica, who less than an hour ago was overcome with fear and hatred for her father, had no idea how to react to the cadaverous puppet that remained of him, and her emotions eventually settled on horror.

After coming to a stop near the walls of the Mystery Shack, the skin flaps around Preston's lethal neck wound began to shake as a raping noise whistled out of the open hole. To the growing horror of the three inside the building, Bill was manipulating the corpse's vocal cords to stimulate noise out of the neck wound, speaking while the loosely attached head bobbed about limply with a frozen open mouth.

"LONG TIME NO SEE SIXER! BASED ON MY LACK OF PROJECTION ABILITIES I'M GUESSING YOU REDECORATED IN THERE? WON'T MATTER MUCH SOON, BUT GOOD EFFORT IN TRYING. THANKS FOR BURYING ALL MY VICTIMS IN AN EASILY ACCESSED MASS GRAVE BY THE WAY."

Stan had jumped into action, going about the building and preparing for combat. Pacifica was as well, but at a slower rate due to shock. Taking a second to confirm he still had his gun from earlier in coat, Ford activated the Shack's speaker system to talk to Bill, buying time for everyone involved to get to work.

"So, you've returned to physical life somehow, but you've clearly lost most of your power seeing as you're hiding behind corpses instead of just dropping a fearamid on us. You're theatrical, but not stupid. What are you playing at?"

"KILLING YOU AND YOUR FAMILY IN A STATE OF ABJECT FEAR AND DESPAIR." He remarked, almost casually despite the gravely tone of voice the macabre method of delivery gave the words. "JUST LIKE THE REST OF THE HUMAN RACE. SEE BEFORE I WAS WILLING TO KEEP SOME OF YOUR PATHETIC SPECIES ALIVE. AFTER ALL, YOU MAKE SUCH FUN TOYS TO PLAY WITH! BUT YOU, STANFORD PINES, HAVE CONVINCED ME HUMANS ARE FAR TOO MUCH OF A THREAT TO MY POWER! SO, I'M GOING TO CLEANSE THIS PLANET DOWN TO THE MICROBES AND USE THE DEAD BALL OF ROCK AS A STORAGE ROOM FOR PARTY SUPPLIES." Despite the lack of active face muscles on the corpse puppet, Preston's expression almost seemed to become smug. "CONGRATULATIONS!"

"But how are you doing this!?" Ford asked, not expecting a real answer but stalling for even a second's worth of time while Stan loaded a heavily sawed down Winchester Model 1887 Shotgun with shells of Ford's own design, a highly irregular mixture of silver dust, rock salt, iron filings, and high explosive compounds. "How did you survive the memory gun?"

"I SEE WHAT YOU'RE UP TO SIXER, PLYING ME FOR INFORMATION SO YOU CAN PLAY BIG HERO AND FOIL MY SCHEME AT THE LAST SECOND WITH SOME CAREFULLY APPLIED SCIENCE, EH?" Bill replied mockingly, then went on cheerfully, "WELL LUCKY FOR ME, I DON'T HAVE A COMPLEX PLAN BEYOND BRUTALLY MURDERING YOU IN THE DEPTHS OF YOUR DESPAIR WITH AN ARMY OF ZOMBIES! SO WHY THE HELL NOT, LET'S CHAT FOR AWHILE! IN FACT, SPEAKING OF THE WHOLE DYING IN DESPAIR THING, THE HOW OF THIS EVENT MIGHT HELP ON THAT FRONT, BECAUSE BOY IS IT A DOOZY..."

Still unaware Bill had struck so soon, Dipper and Mabel were down below with the MI/ND Device up and operational. The girl simply sat in place in her seat with the wire sprouting metal cap on her head, too nervous to even feel boredom, while her brother intuited thick displays of data on a computer screen and adjusted the device as necessary, hunting his ethereal foe over the landscape of the mind. Everything was going well enough, until a sudden data pop up elicited a look of disgust from Dipper.

"Okay, did not need to know that..." Dipper said softly as he closed that box. Mabel looked away from him, well aware of dozens of things inside her mind she didn't want her brother knowing that it could have been.

Despite his handling of the computer system, the exact same data block popped back up right over the one Dipper was currently reading. Then another unwelcome bit of information about Mabel's journey through puberty, then another, and another, each one getting increasingly crudely written until the screen was covered with pop ups like a 2000's machine with inadequate firewalls. Then, the screen froze with an audible _wirring_ noise, and after a second the streams of data were replaced with Bill Cipher's glowing eye.

"PINE TREE, SHOOTING STAR, HOW YA BEEN?" His voice asked over the machine's speakers, in a tone that implied he'd be tipping his hat were he there in person.

"Bill!" Dipper shouted while jumping back from the console in shock, while Mable simply gasped.

"IN THE ELECTRON STREAM FLESHBAGS!" The dream demon taunted back as Dipper fought down his fear and rushed to the controls. "AW, NO HELLO, NO FLOWERS PINE TREE? NOT EVEN A PALTRY HOW CAN THIS BE TO WELCOME YOUR OLD PAL BILL CIPHER BACK TO THE WORLD OF THE LIVING?"

"Not this time Bill!" Dipper shot back, fingers flying over the control panel. "No more tricks or lies! You're trapped inside this machine, and this machine kills psychics!"

"YEAH YEAH GREAT, I'M SURE IT DOES." Bill said dismissively. "ANYWAYS, YOU'VE PROBBED AROUND MY NEW HOME ENOUGH ALREADY!"

Static enveloped the screen and Bill's eye vanished, replaced with a first person view of a forest. Dipper ignored it at first, intent on completing his task to save his sister, but was eventually forced to look up when it occurred to him he needed to read the display, and scowled with confusion at the seemingly unimportant scene Bill had displayed for him. As he was working to wire a secondary monitor in that the data could hopefully be projected onto, a familiar face popped up.

"Blendin Blandin?" Dipper said, confused more than anything else, while Mabel's blood ran cold. Despite himself, the boy couldn't help but keep looking at what Bill was showing him, so in a moment of panic Mabel surged out of the chair and pushed Dipper away from the machine, looking for a power switch to turn it off. "Mabel what the hell!?" Dipper shouted at her, before his eyes shrank with a horrified expression while stepping back.

"Dipper, please, Bill's trying to trick you, you really, really, REALLY shouldn't watch that!" Mabel pleaded as she found and flicked a switch on the monitor, going from confused to scared as Dipper began to move slowly around the room and his body language tensed up, like a cat being backed into a corner.

"I finally figured it out." He said in a measured tone. "We never did understand why you bothered to stick Mabel in a big illusion world bubble when you were more than happy to just murder me, until just now."

"Dipper, what are you talking about?" Mabel asked, increasingly frightened.

"The bubble was the key. You warped the illusion world to coerce Mabel into accepting you, or maybe you were able to overpower her with all the power you gained in the physical world!" Dipper hypothesized. "But it's you inside there now, isn't it Bill!? How long have you controlled her? WAS THE LAST TIME I TRULY TALKED TO MY SISTER A STUPID ARGUMENT!?" Dipper screamed, tears running down his face.

"Dipper, please, you're wrong, it's me Mabel!" She pleaded, even forcing out a little jig where she waved her arms in front of her to try and convince him. "I'm not possessed by Bill Cipher, it's really me!"

"You won't trick me again Bill. This time I'm going to kill you." Dipper said darkly. Then, he picked up crowbar kept in the room for plying open the panels on the sturdy machinery. The boy paused his advance for a moment to look his wet, swollen eyes upwards. "Mabel, if you hear me somehow, I'm sorry. Your body is going to be in a lot of pain when you get it back."

"YOU SEE, YOU ACTUALLY DID MANAGE TO DESTROY ME WITH THAT LITTLE CLOTHES TRICK!" Bill explained through his puppet back above ground. "FORTUNATELY AS A MASTER OF 13 DIMENSIONS OF MAGIC, I MANAGED TO CAST A SPELL TO PULL ME OUT OF THE FIRE. BUT OF COURSE, MAGIC ISN'T AN EXACT SCIENCE, SCIENCE IS! WHICH IS WHY I WANTED YOU TO HELP ME SO MUCH SIXER!"

Ford frowned a little bit at this, then glanced aside to notice Pacifica and Stan had left the room.

"MY RESURRECTION SPELL SPLIT ME APART BY THE SIDES, THEN DEPOSITED THE THREE PIECES OF ME INTO THE MINDS OF THREE PEOPLE WHO HAD BARTERED FOR MY SERVICE." A tone of annoyance fell onto his voice briefly. "YOU AND PINE TREE WERE MY FIRST CHOICES, BUT THOSE METAL PLATES YOU TWO ARE SPORTING SPOILED THAT BIT OF FUN."

"YOU SAID YOU WEREN'T GOING TO DO THAT!" Both Stan and Pacifica screamed at Ford from elsewhere in the house, causing him to flinch a little. Bill seemed to chuckle at this, but it came out a whistling rasp.

"THAT LEFT ME WITH THREE WORTHY CHOICES. THE WANNABE HORSEMAN OF THE APOCALYPSE THAT YOU SEE BEFORE YOU, WHO WAS ALREADY TEETERING ON THE EDGE OF MADNESS BEFORE I PUSHED HIM OVER WITH AUDIO/VISUAL HALLUCINATIONS." Bill explained, doing a mocking little pose with the decaying corpse. "THE INCOMPETENT TIME AGENT FROM THE FUTURE, WHO FLED TO THE WILD WEST TO ESCAPE HIS FAILURE BUT WAS EVENTUALLY TRACKED DOWN, FORCED TO DIG HIS OWN GRAVE, THEN SHOT IN THE HEAD BY ANGRY COLLEAGUES IN REVENGE ALL THOSE PEOPLE HE GOT KILLED." Bill paused for a moment. "ZOMBIE NUMBER 38, TAKE A NOTE: WHEN WE'RE DONE HERE, WE NEED TO ROAD TRIP TO ARIZONA AND DIG THAT CLOWN UP."

None of the corpse puppets moved in response to this demand. "AND FINALLY, LITTLE SHOOTING STAR HERSELF. A GIRL SO SELFISH SHE WAS WILLING TO TRUST SOMEONE WHO TRIED TO UNBIRTH HER FOR THE SMALL CHANCE OF HOLDING BACK HER SIBLING FOR AN INFINITE LOOP OF TIME." Another gravely attempt at laughter, like helium escaping a tank. "NEVER WOULD HAVE FIGURED THAT ONE OUT, WOULD YOU SIXER? SHE SENT YOU ALL TO HELL AND SPENT THE APOCALYPSE PARTYING IT OUT IN AN ILLUSION WORLD! OH, WHAT I'D GIVE TO BE ABLE TO SEE THE LOOKS ON YOUR FACES RIGHT..."

More villainous gloating was interrupted as Preston's chest cavity exploded, spewing rotten meat and putrid fluids everywhere. The mangled form collapsed to the dirt, and while its sustained twitching and writhing indicated Bill still controlled that nervous system, the body was far too physically mangled to function now.

"Ford, does this guy EVER shut up!?" Stan called out from an upper floor window, leaning out with a smoking gun in hand. "I don't know if you can hear me you sick son of a bitch, but here's a free tip: Never lie to a professional liar!" As the zombie hoard began to move, the sound of shuffling and groaning filling the air, Stan ejected the spent shell from his weapon. "Especially not one with a big gun and two kids to protect." he said in a softer tone, then took aim into the hoard.


	6. Three Can Keep A Secret: Chapter 6

Mabel was circling the room slowly, keeping her eyes on her increasingly despair wracked brother, who circled her back with trembling hands gripping a crowbar. "Is Mabel still around somewhere Bill? Watching you parade around in her body for three years as a helpless ghost? Or have you wiped away her consciousness by now?"

"Dipper, please! I'm not possessed by Bill!" Mabel said defensively, her arms held out with palms up.

 _"ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THAT SHOOTING STAR?"_ Bill's voice rang out inside her head as the world slowly melted into chaos within her perceptions, the colors of every object beginning to run like paint, pooling in puddles across the ground and spawning horrors. As Bill warped her world from inside her mind, the only constant was Dipper staring her down, crowbar in hand and eyes alight with hatred, for even his twisted mind could generate nothing worse.

In a surge of motion preceded by a barely breathed apology, Dipper struck forward with his crowbar, attempting to bash Mabel over the head with one motion so he could drag her into the machine right after. The blow was slow, clumsy, and jittery however, and Mabel escaped by diving sideways to the floor, her sweater showered with spark when the crowbar smashed an unrelated computer.

Sprawled out on the floor, Mabel wanted to get on her feet and run for the elevator, but she found her rise from the floor slowed by a twist to the ankle she sustained on the fall, so instead she resorted to scrambling backwards on her hands and feet away from Dipper.

"How'd you do it Bill?" He demanded to know, slowly advancing on his sister, crowbar still in hand. "How did you stay hidden in there for so long, under everyone's notice!?"

"I'M NOT BILL, PLEASE DIPPER, I'M YOUR SISTER!" Mabel yelled back, fear and begging in her voice.

"LIAR!" Dipper screamed, messily slamming the crowbar down but missing the prone figure by a mile as Mabel scooted backwards. "Your cruelty betrays you Bill! I had never even considered the possibility but I should have known it from the bubble! My twin sister would never have been so cruel as to produce a horrible imitation of me and rub in my face how much they preferred them over the real me! Only your sick imagination could have thought to do that to me!" Deeply repressed hurt bled through every word, memories of being made to feel worthless by the person Dipper treasured more than anyone else in the world.

Mabel froze up in terror, flashing back to her "more supportive" version of Dipper that she'd paraded before the real thing back in the bubble while a guilty chill encased her heart, that Dipper had such a high opinion of her that he attributed her misdeeds to Bill Cipher. Her panicked backing came to an end as Mabel's head collided with a wall, and in a flash she threw both arms over her head and closed her eyes. After a long, dread filled moment however, the crowbar never fell, and Mabel slowly opened her eyes and looked upon Dipper.

Her twin was just standing there, openly crying with the crowbar held limply in hand, looking down at his sister being more terrified then he'd ever see her. After a stare down that felt like forever, Dipper simply fell to his knees, crowbar clattering to the ground.

"Damn you Bill." He breathed with defeat. "I won't give you the satisfaction of begging for you to make it quick."

Mabel looked on her brother, overwhelmed by a confusing mixture of fear, guilt, sorrow and regret. Even when his own life was on the line, even when he was afraid he'd be at the mercy of Bill Cipher, he can't bring himself to hurt his sister.

 _"And I can't even be honest with him."_ Mabel thought ruefully, then climbed to her feet. Dipper winced in anticipation as she approached him, but the girl kept on going, depending on her memory of the room to brave the illusion, and sat herself in the MI/ND Device, bringing the helmet down and closing the leather limb straps that had gone unused during her last sit. "It's... it's okay Dipper. Run the machine."

Wary that this might still be a trap, Dipper rose from the floor, and moved slowly towards the control panel, watching Mabel all the while like a big cat ready to pounce. Then, when he could touch the controls by blindly jabbing his arm out sideways, he contemplated the situation, then decided that if this was a trap he had no option but to spring it, and spun around like a flash of lightning, plugging away at the computer while tensing for a knife in the back.

The memory began to play on screen again, but this time Dipper was ready, and quickly routed the workings to another screen, allowing him to proceed with purging Bill Cipher from inside his sister. The Time Agent's deceptively warm voice began to filter through the computer's sound system, filling Dipper's ears with words he never imagined, and soon enough his work was complete, meaning all he could do was watch as the now gently crying girl waited for her mind to be free.

* * *

Back above ground, the battle against the undead had begun in force, with the previously still horde surging forward in motion, unleashing a synchronized wail of what seemed like rage as soon as Preston's body was shot down.

The Shack's automated security downed a few of them, electrified surfaces burning away the nervous systems Bill's magic puppeted to animate them while Grunkle Stan continued to fire at them from the upper roof, but their sheer numbers let them burst down the door after a bit. Grunkle Ford already had his pocket gun at the ready, and was firing into the crowd downing zombies while climbing backwards up the stairs.

He was soon joined at the top of the stairs by his twin brother, and together the two Stans stood against the zombie hoard, firing their weapons over and over into what seemed like a sea of dead flesh slowly advancing up the stairs, held back only by the kinetic impact and torn muscles of the raining bullets.

Eventually though, they did run out of ammo.

The two looked down at their guns clicking harmlessly, then up at each other. "We need to get to the attic!" Stan stated.

"What about Pacifica, where'd she get to?" Ford responded, only for the answer to come as the sound of rapid footsteps and a female yell as the girl in question ran up behind the twins and clumsily hurled a bowling ball she'd found down the stairs, the heavy object slamming through the crowd of flesh with the power of gravity fueling it, smashing through numerous cadavers in a sickly fountain of putrid tissue.

With the three together, they retreated to higher ground, having no choice but to hope the younger twins would be safe underground. Fortunately they managed to retrieve more of Stan's guns as they got farther up, keeping the hoard back, but eventually they'd be stuck on the roof, and they simply couldn't kill zombies fast enough, especially since, barring severe anatomical damage, many zombies could get up from their bullet wounds and continue pursuit.

Ford wracked his brain for a solution to this, but abruptly figured it out as he watched Pacifica and Stan attempt to escape out a window, their process briefly slowed when the old man stopped the young heiress, pointing out the armed electrified metal plate built under the window, designed to electrify invaders using this window as an entrance.

Urging the other two out after using a nearby emergency switch to disarm the trap independent of the full system, Ford abruptly began to shoot the floor of the shack, drawing confused cries from his two cohorts. The scientist began to grin however, when he struck metaphorical gold: a bullet grazed the plumbing, which began to leak water across the floor. Adding a few more bullets to speed the growth of the puddle, Ford put one foot out the window and rearmed the electrical plate on his way out.

The zombies soon kicked down the door, but were gradually eradicated as their attempts to shuffle forth and kill Stanford drew them into the electrified puddle, destroying their nervous systems and ending Bill's means to puppet them. Ford remained in place on the roof to maintained their attention, while Stan and Pacifica climbed down and flanked the zombie hoard, cleaning them up in short order.

Now, all that was left was to check the basement.

When the three stepped out of the elevator they found Dipper having taken a seat in a chair, body lax seemingly from shock, while Mable still sat in the chair as the machine simply hummed away. Neither were looking at each other, and the computer was playing the footage of Mabel's forest deal on repeat, Bill's final attempt to torment the Pines family as the weakened, passive section living inside but not controlling Mabel's mind was burned away.

With an eagerness to be doing anything else but be in this room, Dipper addressed the newcomers. "Hey guys, how are things going up there?"

"Bill attacked the Shack with an army of zombies." Ford said bluntly, then looked closer at the screen. "Dipper, what is going on here?"

In an uncharacteristic moment of silence towards his great uncle, Dipper simply looked at Mabel once and opted to run to the elevator. "Dipper, wait! There's a bunch of corpses up there!" Pacifica called out and went to follow him, leaving the Stan twins alone with Mabel.

Ford approached the machine to finish the work Dipper was doing, but came to a stop as he watched the scene repeat, a difficult to read expression on his face. When he'd seen the entire thing, he turned towards Mabel and simply asked. "Is this true?" he asked, having to speak somewhat loudly in order to be heard over the replaying memory.

As the recording reached the point where Bill emerged from Blendin's body and laughed over his victory, Grunkle Stan surged forward, ripped the computer's speaker out and furiously smashed it against the wall, allowing silence to reign again.

Mabel only nodded, refusing to look her great uncles in the eye over the emerging truth. To her surprise though, she felt a six-fingered hand sit gently on her shoulders. Stanford struggled to put his words in order, but eventually said "I won't mince words with you Mabel, you made a mistake, one I'm certain you are well aware of the consequences of. But, I made mistakes just like yours a lot more often, and nobody is more familiar with Bill's ability to manipulate others than me. It's not my place to judge you and what you've done, but you do understand that you have to talk to Dipper about this, right?"

Mabel looked up at her Grunkle Ford, eyes puffy and red, and nodded resolutely. "I understand Grunkle Ford." Then, she looked across the room at his twin. "Grunkle Stan?"

Stan looked at her with a moment of confusion, then snorted that "If you expect me to pass moral judgement on anyone pumpkin, you're looking at the wrong old man. Yeah you did something wrong, but I've done much worse things for much worse reasons all over my life!" Then his tone softened a little. "But Ford is right. You absolutely need to talk this out with Dipper. Just, not right now. Best let him cool off for a bit."

"That's well enough then since I need to finish scanning and clearing your mind." Ford added while beginning to work the control panel. "Bill explained a bit about how he was alive up above, but I think we can learn a lot more with a look inside your head."

The dawn eventually soon broke over the Mystery Shack as its inhabitants continued to work from night into day. Dipper and Pacifica left right away to alert Mayor Cutebiker to what had happened, quickly acquiring assistance in cleaning up the felled zombies and returning them to their graves, the whole town being always eager to erase evidence of Bill's existence.

Pacifica, who was sullen and quiet while working, was not terribly surprised when the police car that had been sent to her home discovered her mother dead. Bill's sadistic nature precluded any other possibilities. Not long after, she slipped away, and Dipper lost track of her in the rush to get all the corpses cleaned up as quickly as possible.

Down in the basement, Stanford worked through the data he had collected. Bill Cipher was indeed inside Mabel's head, but had been swiftly purged by the machine after an extensive scan of all data needed to work out what exactly happened.

"I'll tell you the good news Mabel," Ford began. The girl in question had gotten out of the chair awhile ago. Though she'd been awake for almost 18 hours at this point, she felt no desire to go to sleep, and had remained underground with Grunkle Ford when Grunkle Stan went up the elevator to help clean up the corpses. "Bill was inside your mind since you left Gravity Falls those years ago, but based on your brain chemistry I can safely say he was dormant until your return to town a few days ago."

"So I'm still me then, right? Those years I spent back in California, I was still myself?" She asked, and Ford nodded in affirmative. Mabel wasn't sure if that made her feel good or not.

"The Bill that was inside your head, as well as inside Preston Northwest and this time agent, were simply pieces of Bill, which he split apart in order to escape death and attempt to rebuild himself at a later time." Ford's hand began to stroke his chin. "In addition to his power, I suspect this also strongly reduced his intelligence. This invasion of the undead was sloppy and impatient in comparison to his previous scheming."

"Oh, three pieces, triangle, I gotcha." Mabel replied. "So, he'd dead for good now, right?"

"We can only hope, but I'm going to keep running tests to make sure." Ford stated. "In the meanwhile, I think you know what you need to do."

Mabel nodded and made her way to the elevator. The time she'd spent below ground had been put to good use by those working above, as the concerned citizens recruited by the mayor and directed by the town's exceedingly cheerful funeral providers had made swift work of the assorted corpses. While the contents of the Mystery Shack were still a mess and the whole room stank to high heavens, the obvious evidence of supernatural foul play had been cleaned up posthaste, allowing Mabel to search for her brother without being knee deep in the dead.

Despite her efforts however, she would not locate Dipper by her own efforts. Shortly before his twin had come up from the basement, the boy had concluded his own search, having found Pacifica Northwest sitting on the Shack roof, looking towards the morning sun.

Completely unsure of what to say in the face of this tragedy, he simply said "Hey" and sat down next to her. The air was exceedingly silent and awkward for an agonizing period of time, until Pacifica broke it with a deep sigh.

"I'm sorry Dipper."

The boy looked at her with confusion. "What do you mean Pacifica, you have nothing to feel sorry for." Then, when he realized how callous that sounded in this context, Dipper slapped himself in the face and began to stutter apologetically. "No, wait, I mean yes you have every right to feel sorry right, I meant that you have nothing to feel, well, responsible for, I mean..." His stammering ended with a groan of frustration. "This is all MY fault anyways!"

"No it's not!" Pacifica cut in firmly, snapping her eyes towards him with a hard expression. "Nothing that happened here is your fault, and I know it Dipper! You can't blame yourself for any of this!" Then, her tone softened with regret and she looked at her feet. "Anyways, I'm sorry I failed to live up to your example. You've spent so long showing me to be a good person, a selfless person, and none of it's stuck."

Dipper could only look at her in confusion, struggling with his own feelings at the moment. The blond simply let out a sigh and explained. "Both of my parents just died Dipper, and I'm not feeling what a good person should feel. I've known they were rotten since the night in the mansion, and they've only gotten worse since we lost it, but even then I know I should still feel bad about this but..." She threw up her hands in exasperation. "I don't know how I'm feeling! I'm feeling worse about the fact that I don't feel bad about my parents dying then I feel about my parents dying!"

Though still unsure how to best respond, Dipper made an attempt to assuage her feelings. "Well, there was a time when I hated Grunkle Stan for awhile and was going to leave him to die, but then I found out he was just doing his best to toughen me up, but then way later I found out her was actually repeating the mistakes of his own abusive parents that destroyed his relationship... with... Grunkle Ford..." Though he gradually trailed off and pulled his hat over his face when he realized how useless all that was.

Pacifica scowled at him for a moment, but then her expression softened. Dipper could be a tactless emotional klutz around her sometimes, but he always had a well meaning sincerity about him even when he messed up, and for a girl who'd been raised in a world of deception and social masks which she strove to escape from that meant a lot to her.

"Look, I appreciate the effort, but I think I just need some time to think this over alone, okay?" She asked of him, and Dipper wordlessly agreed, leaving the roof and returning indoors. Upon returning to the living room of the Shack, he ran into Mabel.

The two simply looked at each other for the longest time, a mire of emotions crossing both faces as they struggled to know what to say.

Mabel was the first to try and break the silence, stammering out "Dipper, I don't... I didn't... I'm sorry Dipper, I never meant to..."

"Do you trust me?" Dipper interrupted, and when Mabel looked up at his expression, she was struck by just how disappointed he looked. Anger she'd been prepared for, but this cut her to the core.

"Of course I trust you Dipper! You're the most capable, caring person I know!" Mabel cried out, tears beginning to form.

"Because I don't think you do!" Dipper accused, pain cracking his voice as he looked at the floor, tears of his own beginning to run. "You couldn't just let me be happy by myself so you ran away, tried to lock the town in a time loop, hid inside a world of fantasy while all your friends and family were dying, and you replaced me with a cheap copy. And all that..." Dipper breathed, choking on his own words. "And all that, I would have forgiven you for."

This was not the response Mabel was expecting, and she looked up at him with a small amount of confusion. Her greatest fear, made even strong after discovering the cemetery for Bill's victims, was that her brother would judge her beyond redemption.

"You were tricked by Bill at an emotional low point, and I'm in no position to judge you on that." He remarked, unconsciously rubbing a fork shaped scar on his arm through his clothes. "Heck, you didn't even know you were dealing with Bill at the time. I should have known better."

Mabel seemed to grow a smile at this prospect, albeit a faint one. "So, is that it then? Are we Mystery Twins forever?"

Dipper's next words crushed her. "No." He said simply. "Because while I can forgive you for all that, the thing I can't or just aren't ready to forgive you for is that you lied about it all."

Mabel's stomach dropped and she felt very small as Dipper looked right at her with teary eyes. "Why didn't you think you could tell me Mabel? Do you think so little of me that you assumed it would destroy our sibling bond? Or were you trying to manipulate me into staying with you back in California, away from my passion!?"

"I couldn't tell you because it hurt!" Mabel cried in response. "Everyday I was alone back at home I thought about telling you the truth, but the scorn I thought you'd feel for me, the rift it could create between us, I couldn't bare it! Everything else, all the hurt of growing up without my twin, the joyless grind of high school and the cruelty of everyone else there, I could take it all knowing you still loved me Dipper! Even just thinking that you hated me left me crying awake at night!"

Dipper was quiet again for a long while, trying to process how he felt about all this while Mabel quietly sobbed to herself. After a long think about it, he walked over and gave Mabel a hug of comfort, but pulled away before she could return it, disappointment still marking his face, but now diluted by pity.

"Mabel, you're my twin sister and the best friend I've ever had. Even though you're flawed, I know that you care about me more than anyone, even if you don't express it in the best ways. You're a bubbling, shining light inside my life, and every day that I lived in here in Gravity Falls I missed you too. You're my only sister Mabel, and I'll always love you."

"But, after everything I've learned today, I just can't trust you, and I don't know when I'll be able to again." Dipper said with regret, clearly wishing it weren't so. "Life is painful sometimes Mable, this life of truth and knowledge I lead even more so. Truth is paramount in this world, no matter how painful it is!"

"But this doesn't need to be your world Dipper!" Mabel yelled back. "We can home together, and just be normal teenagers and live normal lives away from all this terror and pain and death!"

"You know that's not actually possible Mabel. Not anymore." Dipper said solemnly, and then, when neither of them had anything else to say to each other, the boy simply pulled his hat over his eyes and walked away.

Time passed in a blur from there on out. It could have been days or just hours later, but soon enough Dipper and Ford were mounting up for everyone's worst fears: an expedition to another dimension.

"My analysis of the data confirmed Bill had correctly explained his method of survival." Grunkle Ford was explaining as the family was assembled before the portal, down in the basement. "However, he had told a critical lie, one I discovered by plugging the data extracted from Mabel's mind into the dimensional viewer device. According to that, there are nine pieces of Bill Cipher still out in the multiverse, lining up to the three dimensional form he achieved upon entering our reality."

"One one hand, this does mean that by deleting the fragment of Bill inside Mabel's head, I believe I've reduced his potential power forever. However, if three pieces of Bill reunite, he'd be restored to his original state, and he's still hugely dangerous in that form." Stanford continued while firing up the machine. "To that end, Dipper and I have returned the Viewer back to being a Portal, and will use it to track Bill Cipher across the multiverse and eliminate him, piece by piece."

"Ford, c'mon, this is crazy!" Stan protested. "I spent thirty long years trying to get you out of that thing, and you're looking to go back in and drag Dipper with you!?"

"The only other choice is to spend the rest of our lives with the threat of a returned Bill Cipher hanging over out heads." Ford replied, and that possibility even made the other grown twin nervous. "I have taken precautions to ensure we are not cast adrift however." He added, while pulling a small disc out of a coat pocket that possessed a simple metal switch on top of it. "This is a fast return switch, a device I invented that will remotely activate the portal, lock it onto the switch's location, and carry back anyone holding it. Me and Dipper will have a dozen each." Then, he put his hand on his twin's shoulder. "And before you say you're coming with us, I'm leaving you behind because I need someone I trust absolutely to keep the portal open, so we can return."

"Don't worry Grunkle Ford, me and Stan will keep this portal wide open for when you need to come back!" Mabel spoke up, then looked at Dipper. "You can trust me with this, I promise."

"I hope that's true Mabel." Dipper said a little cryptically, before the sound of the upstairs elevator opening caught everyone's attention. Pacifica Northwest had joined them in the basement, clad in the practical cargo pants/shirt/jacket combo she wore while on field work with the Pines family, with a bag slung over her shoulder and a nervous look on her face.

The room was quiet for a minute, then the newcomer spoke up. "So, uh, Soos told me you two are going to be gone for awhile. Dipper, Doctor Pines, can I come with you?" She asked, nervous but eager at the same time. "There's... there's nothing left for me here in Gravity Falls, and if I'm hanging around when my parent's disappearance gets reported I'll be shuffled off to a Northwest branch family on the other side of the world who only want what's left of our... my fortune. And I want to help you guys as much as possible before that happens."

"This is going to be difficult and dangerous. You understand that, right?" Grunkle Ford asked.

"What isn't when it comes to you Pines?" She replied jokingly, but then got a serious look. "It's about Bill, isn't it? He's still out there in some form and you're going after him I'm guessing? It's the only threat big enough that I could imagine that would convince you to do this, and I want him dead just as much as all of you."

"You have helped Dipper with his research before, so you're not completely unprepared." Ford mused, then differed to his apprentice. "Dipper, it's your call."

The decision was made, and then the two twins watched as the three figures stepped towards the active machine and dissolved into the light.


	7. Multiverse Chase: Chapter 1

The blinding light receded and reality returned to focus again, a bright world of vague shapes giving way to a dark, cold place of simple metal constructs. Dipper Pines and Pacifica Northwest simply revealed in wonder over their first jump through dimensions, while Stanford Pines, a man more familiar with the experience then he'd like, simply set to work, pulling a scanning multi-tool from inside his voluminous coat.

"Chemical mix in the air is normal, temperature is survivable, atmosphere is a little low on oxygen/high on argon, but breathable. Gravity levels roughly equivalent to planet Venus. Background arcane radiation is zero." His first check done, Ford snapped the device shut and stowed it away. "Right, let's find out where we are."

The previously mentioned wonder at the other world held by the younger two quickly faded, as they spent several minutes discovering that "the wonders of infinite realms of possibility and unlimited probability" consisted of several long, unmarked corridors constructed from grey gunmetal, or something visually equivalent to it. "Based on the size and shape of these doors..." Ford mused while looking over one of the irregular panels in the wall which he was admittedly assuming was a door "Whoever lives here is either non-humanoid in shape, or they are very large humanoids, though I don't know what to make of this keypad..." He thought while glancing at the door's controls, three interlocking rings of illuminated buttons with depressed pits in the center and in a hexagon pattern around it.

"Uh, guys, I think I hear something!" Pacifica spoke up, a true enough, the two Pines soon picked up the sound of soft humming, drawing closer from around a corner.

"Alright, best behavior everyone." Ford said quietly while stepping in front, and raising his hands to show he wasn't armed. "Let's see who we're dealing with here."

Around the corner glided a sculpted being entirely made of metal, four spinning arms with hands connected to a thin looking metal pole that was topped with a glowing red light on top and a wide, thin circle touching the floor. It caught "sight" of the three and came to a stop, the red light atop its head passing between the individuals.

"Hmm, some kind of robot no doubt, could be security or service." Ford muttered quietly. "Hopefully the mind swimmers have had long enough to work." He added, causing Pacifica to squirm slightly at the memory of having the living fish-like creature swim up her nose and nestle in her sinus cavity.

Though gross, the brain fish were a key component of dimensional exploration, as before Ford discovered them after a few years of being lost between worlds the language barrier was completely insurmountable, but he found them living in a small nightmare about drowning during a brief stay in captivity within the Nightmare Realm, and soon after discovered that when taken to a material realm and bonded to a host, they independently explore the collective unconscious of wherever you've ended up, learn the local language as quick as possible, then psychically translate back and forth for you. Very useful for realms where things like sound, time, and mouth delivered speech don't exist. As dreams spun to flesh, they were very easy to care for, and Ford had transformed the small jar of fingerlings he had in his pocket when he exited the portal all those years ago into a healthy pond community back on earth.

"Do you recognize it Grunkle Ford? Do you know where we are?" Dipper asked.

"Not exactly. No two universes are exactly alike, but a great many of them are very similar. Comes with all the alternate universes and such, with there being presumably billions of worlds similar enough to our own that we could fit into with no difficulty." He explained as the machine processed them without words. "Based on previous experiences with minimalist metal corridors, lack of windows, air that's both ample and stale, and a magnetic drive robot clearly designed for very little environmental ruggedness asides from zero gravity, I can safely hypothesize we are in an outer space construction of some kind or very deep underground."

"You are... ORGANIC!" The machine stated, abruptly synthesizing a singsong voice clip cobbled together from recordings of different people in different conversations. "You are to be... taken to... Security Captain Straldezar/Security Captain Straldezar is unavailable for duty... taken to... Security Overseer Tralbagari/Security Overseer Tralbagari is unavailable for duty... taken to... Security Coordinator Davgeloch/Security Coordinator Davgeloch is unavailable for duty..."

The machine continued to vocalize like this for almost a minute, seeming to cut together jarringly different recordings for the purpose of arguing with itself over who the three travelers should be turned over to. Ford knew better than to interject with a machine like this, as it was no doubt too simplistically programmed to accommodate willingness to help by the people it has captured, and he'd very much not like to place a bunch of robot shenanigans in-between himself and whoever is running this place.

"Security Ensign Flemabulun!" The security robot declared, using a voice clip of what sounded like a screaming superior officer, then proceeded to say something new. "Is on duty, deck C-23. You will accompany. Please be advised that... trespassing on a, Valignian, Military, Outpost... is a serious crime, and commission, of another/serious crime, such as... resisting arrest/assaulting a security drone/destruction of property/public waste dispersal, will upgrade your threat level... to shoot on sight." It explained, while the hand facing the direction of the three began to shift and fuse, until it had taken the unmistakable form of a gun barrel. "You will accompany."

"Of course, of course, we have no desire for further trouble!" Ford stated reassuringly, looking about to see if he could spot security equipment. The security robot meanwhile was seeming to glide backwards as it led the intruders through the station, its singular visual scanner remaining placed on its prisoners all while it expertly navigated the corridors. All three in the group noticed that it had no need to interact with the oddly shaped control panels to make doors slide open for itself and its charges. "Alright you two, prepare yourself, for I feel we'll be dealing with a strictly military mind soon, one of the multiverse's annoying constants."

"You take me to the nicest places Dipper." Pacifica remarked with a sarcastic tone as three were led deeper into the strange complex.

As they passed through the winding corridors of identical metal, the lack of any living things walking the halls began to arouse curiosity. The falling footsteps of the humans and the gentle hovering of the machine were the only noises in this place, echoing across the long and empty halls. Finally, they were led into what was clearly an elevator, for although the cylindrical space was completely silent after the four figures pressed into it, they were in a completely different location when the door slid open again. For the younger two dimension travelers, the sight took their breath away.

The room they were admitted into was a large, circular space with the ceiling being a huge glass dome that offered one a dazzling view of outer space. Unfamiliar stars and winding nebulae dominated the sky, unobscured by atmosphere or light pollution. Ford's attention however was drawn to the surface level environment, a sprawling series of what seemed to be computer stations, albeit highly advanced and configured for inhuman physiology.

Everyone's attention was caught when the sound of chattering feet on metal began to fill the room and a shape began to move through the gently curving rows of computer stations. It kept itself low, allowing the humans to catch only brief glances of a strange, angular body between consoles and screens. When they finally saw it in full, the creature was almost right on top of them, extending to full height over its captives.

The alien creature could be described in earth biology as a seven legged arthropod, three to each side of its cylindrical center body and the odd numbered leg coming directly from the the back. The front of the body sprouted three gaping, writhing tentacles that ended in open holes, a circle of micro eyes spread around each gap and a grasping series of prehensile, stringy strands hanging out of each one. From the perception of the earthlings, it broadcast perfectly flat sounding English from inside these three holes, but this was merely the result of the mind swimmers being pushed to their furthest.

"You are intruders/enemies/lawbreakers." It stated, each tentacles rapidly examining one of the three humans. "But you are organics/non-cyborgs/solid bodies, so you cannot be invaders/killers/the enemy. Explain/enunciate/educate." The longer the alien creature spoke, the more emotion seemed to creep into its voice as the mind swimmers gained a better grasp of its thought process, better able to relay that this alien was in the depths of great fear.

"My name is Stanford Pines of the planet Earth, and these are my two assistants, Dipper Pines and Pacifica Northwest." Then he quietly looked behind him and said softly "Just roll with the assistant thing, explaining mammal family dynamics to outer dimensional arthropods can take days."

"Earth?" It seemed to asked. "Earth earth earth earth earthearthearthearthearthearth." It chattered to itself, rolling the word around its three mouths in an attempt to swallow it. "Earth is an enemy breeding ground/training camp/factory. Gilweggle has show it to us, along with other enemy breeding grounds/training camps/factories."

"How can Earth possibly be your enemy!?" Dipper asked up. "The people of Earth have barely traveled to their moon, how are they a threat to all this?"

"We are in an alternate dimension." Ford chided gently. "Please, Security Ensign, tell us about this enemy you face, maybe we can help you." he asked, stalling for time.

"The enemy are a galactic virus/enemy nation/racial purists." It began to explain, voice taking on a tone of eager fear and anger. "They sweep across the galaxy invading/collecting/sterilizing worlds. Space controlled by them is dominated by genocides/crackdowns/fascists. All possible lengths have been authorized to defend against/defeat/take revenge upon them. Such as the nanomachine virus."

"Nanomachine virus?" Stanford asked, becoming increasingly off put by this situation but definitely feeling like he was on Bill's trail.

"Nanomachine Virus, devised by Science Officer Gilweggle." The creature explained, displaying a strange degree of trust in these outsiders. "200 Cycles ago this station was attacked by a biological weapon/synthetic illness/murderous song deployed by the enemy to blind this observation post. I and Science Officer Gilweggle were the only survivors due to damage to the outer solar collectors that required repair/replacement/regeneration. The service robots/military droids/metal friends decontaminated the station before our life current ran dry, but all comrades/allied soldiers/friends had been killed/purged/exterminated by then, and without any surviving communications officers or pilots, we could not acquire aid from the greater Valignian military."

The two younger explorers balked slightly, as they realized they'd been striding through an empty tomb.

"Roughly 60 Cycles ago, Science Officer Gilweggle began to experience aberrant/extraordinary/inspiring personality malfunctions, displaying advanced knowledge beyond his training/strange speech patterns/Class 2 personal ambition. He performed modification/heresy/improvement to the station's sensor suites, unveiling the fact that several allied/primitive/organic inhabited planets had been conquered/exterminated/processed by the enemy, and devised a counter-attack, a swarm of self-replicating nanomachines programmed to devour enemy weapons/constructs/civilians. They will be loaded into magnetic drive message pods. Unfortunately, Science Officer Gilweggle explained that the magnetic radiation of the pods prevents robots/service machines/metal friends for functioning in their repair chamber, meaning the enemy weapon still grows/occupies/sings in that room. He has willingly exposed to himself to death to load the nanomachine virus. I have been left with the duty/honor/privilege of launching the pods, which are already primed for release and will initiate the cleansing/conquest/defensive maneuvers when this station's galactic orbit has placed it on a prime firing vector."

"Well, thank you for that very detailed explanation, I understand perfectly now." Ford stated before drawing one of the handguns he brought from earth and emptying it center mass into the security robot. The repeated bullet impacts punched down the metal stalk and finally snapped it half, causing the head of the robot to fall to the floor and uselessly request assistance while the magnetic hover skirt rolled aimlessly across the floor. "Keep him busy!" Ford shouted regarding the alien while running towards the largest and most important looking computer in the room.

Dipper had meanwhile produced a collapsible crossbow from his backpack, while Pacifica pulled out a small hairdryer, which she dropped out of annoyance and went back to digging around in her bag. "I'm not as good at this as you two, okay?"

Dipper just gave a small, amused smile at this while looking at down at the alien. "You just don't have practice, that's all. Remind me to tell you about the time I was just starting out and tried to threaten a Popobawa with an oil diffuser." Then, remembering his job, Dipper attempted to sound more threatening. "As for you, uh, just stay where you are! We don't want to hurt you, but you are on the verge of doing something terrible for a really bad reason and we can't let it happen!"

By now Ford had pried loose some metal panels and was wiring his universal psychohacker tool into the computer system, and was soon greeted by a hologram of a familiar open eye, springing to life unprompted from the device's hologram projector.

"HEYA SIXER!" Bill Cipher's grating voice rang out. "IF YOU'RE WATCHING THIS RECORDING IT MEANS I'VE ALREADY JUMPED SHIP FROM THIS TOMB OF PARANOID ALIEN SOLDIERS AND LEFT A SEVEN TIMES GENOCIDE BEHIND AS A PARTING GIFT! AND, HERE'S A PLOT TWIST, ONE OF THE PLANET'S I'VE MARKED FOR DEATH IS THIS UNIVERSE'S VERSION OF EARTH! I GOTTA THANK YOU SIXER, DESTROYING PLANETS HAD HONESTLY GOTTEN KINDA BORING FOR ME AFTER EONS OF HILARIOUS MASS SLAUGHTER, BUT NOW, THANKS TO YOU? DESTROYING ANY VERSION OF YOUR DISGUSTING HOMEWORLD FILLS ME WITH A SPECIAL KIND OF JOY! AU REVOIR SIXER!"

Ford had stopped listening and begun running at the words parting gift. He'd projected up all static visual files inside the computer then flash memorized what he had to hope was a diagram of the space station they were on. He was unable to read the alien lettering before him (a notable weakness of the purely mental mind swimmers) but based on the high usage of magnetic technology here, the scientist was able to extrapolate from the shape of the station and it's magnetic polar design what a magnetic rail gun instillation that would launch "magnetic drive message pods." Several large stations with magnetic tunnels that ran near the length of the ship were present, but based on positioning and how similar they were to each other, Ford concluded those were weapon emplacements. Finally, he located a small magnetic firing line near the bottom of the station, with a much shorter rail and no other position like it. After all, a military outpost of this nature would no doubt have several gun emplacements, but only a single magnetic message pod chamber.

"Don't let him touch any of the computers! I'll be back!" Ford yelled as he ran out the exit door, leaving his backpack on the floor for more speed.

"Does ally organic wish to avert our counterattack/genocide crusade/mercy killing?" The large alien asked, with what the mind swimmers interpreted as confusion. "Impossible. Such actions are illogical/treasonous/self-harming. This miscommunication must be resolved." It spoke before trying to move to a computer, only for Dipper to bark at it.

"Can't let you do that big guy." He said sympathetically. "Look, I know you're scared, I know you're grieving your friends, and I know this enemy of yours sounds really bad, but you can't launch those nanomachines. You've been tricked and will kill trillions of innocent lives! Your science officer was not what he seemed!"

"Impossible. Science Officer Gilweggle is Science Officer/Superior Officer/Surviving Official he cannot be wrong. Experts must be obeyed in times of crisis. You are enemy infiltrators. Either the enemy has improved hologram or cyber-conversion technology. Command must be informed, and you must be Killed/Slaughtered/Saved." It reasoned out, before beginning to take ominous steps towards the two young earthlings.

Down below, Stanford Pines had rushed through the station complex, having to depend entirely on a projected hologram in front of him for guidance. While he could have ensured a more sure route by taking longer to plan, the old scientist knew Bill would leave him as short a clock as possible, and acting quickly was his only chance to save those planets. In the pit of his stomach he feared he might already be too late, but like Mabel would have he focused on the bright possibilities.

Ford breathed a sigh of relief when he reached the room on the map, a circular chamber with eight cylindrical chambers, primed and ready to launch. Ford ran to the closest one and used a pocket stored plasma cutter to begin cutting through the steel tube. It was slow going though, and in the end his work only rewarded him with a crumpled up alien of the same species as their "host" sloughing out of the tube, crunchy and leaking liquid. "You always find some way to top yourself Bill." Ford spoke with disgust, pulling out an atmosphere reader and discovering that this room had been properly disinfected just like the rest of the station. The human snorted, having been suspicious of the room's effect on robots after realizing magnetic acceleration tubes ran the length of this station several times.

He thought for a moment, analyzing his odds of safely cutting free all seven nanomachine bearing pods before the unseen clock ran out, and determined he couldn't risk unleashing the machines on Dipper and Pacifica or that even one would be fired. He readied his psychic hacker and attached it to the mail system's control computers.

 _"Machine!"_ He thought to himself after establishing a mental connection to the tool. _"Sweep operating system for all numerical values with a 73% similarity to three dimensional space coordinates in any known numerical systems. Then search, erase and replace all designated values with your exact coordinates."_

 _"Acknowledged."_

With a mental note to build a new one back on Earth, Ford left the device behind and sprinted off to run the height of the station again, unconsciously checking his coat to see if the Fast Return Switch was still there, which it was.

Meanwhile, an alien warrior was advancing menacingly towards Dipper. He shouted out a few increasingly begging warnings, then with regret let the crossbow bolt sail.

At that kind of range he couldn't miss, and the stainless steel bolt ripped into the chitin flesh with surprisingly little resistance, sending steady pumps of smelly dark liquid spilling onto the polished metal floors. The alien shrieked out a noise that could only be distress and went into a mad charge, barreling into Dipper and beating him to the side and sending his crossbow scuttling across the floor in the opposite direction. The creature then climbed over Dipper, raising one foot high up above the boy's head, letting him notice for the first time that their otherwise spindly feet ended in extremely sharp looking barbs. "Ah, of course it'd be like that." Dipper remarked, employing his tried and true strategy of averting mortal terror with sarcasm as he shielded his face with his arms.

However, the executioner's blade never fell, and very quickly the smell of ozone reached the boy's mouth. "Dipper, move!" he heard Pacifica yell, and after the momentary shock of not being dead, rolled to the side. It proved unnecessary, as the menacing arthropod fell to its side, sizzling with smoke and spilling more putrid bio-fluids onto the ground. Still, the sharp foot landed closer to where Dipper's head was then he was comfortable with, so he was glad nonetheless.

Then he looked to the source of the cry and saw Pacifica standing there, with Grunkle Ford's 8th model direct energy personal blaster in her hands, and his open backpack at her feet. She wasn't crying, but her eyes were going back and forth from the gun to the cooling body with a look of uncertainty on her face. "I...I didn't..." she stuttered out, then looked at the floor in disappointment. "I did something bad again Dipper, and I don't know if I'm feeling remorse for it. He, it, that... that guy didn't deserve that."

Dipper crossed the floor to but a comforting hand on her shoulder, but was struggling with what to say. "Well, yeah, I mean... I agree that guy wasn't bad, just tricked, but you saved my life, and probably Grunkle Ford's as well, not to mention everyone living on all those planets!"

She looked up at Dipper, and a comforted expression came across her face. "Yeah, I guess it was a good thing then..." Pacifica abruptly looked horrified and tossed away the gun away in self disgust. "Wait, no, that's a terrible thing to say! I've killed a living thing!"

For his part, Dipper pulled his hat over his eyes and was quietly cursing his lack of a way with words. "I didn't mean it like that! I mean, you did do something terrible, no that makes me sound like a jerk! I mean, it was bad but it was also... necessary?" Both were left to stew in their moral relativism until Grunkle Ford stormed in, Fast Return Switch in hand.

"Kids, we need to return now! I've reset the nanomachines to target this space station, and after consuming everything here they'll float in empty space until they run out of energy from having nothing to consume and shut down. A nice little self contained cleanup, but we need to get out of here now!"

"What about Bill?" Dipper asked.

"Lied about the still deadly bioattack, forced his host to commit suicide by crawling into a magnetic tube, has probably psychic jumped somewhere else in the multiverse." He explained, before noticing the dead alien on the floor. "I hoped it wouldn't come to that, but kinda expected it would. Now, grab on everyone!"

The three held onto the disk, and when the switch flipped, nothing happened right away, but slowly static electricity built up in the air before reality began to dissolve around them, and the last thing they felt was the deep earthquake like sensation of the station eating itself as they dissolved into the warm light of home.


	8. Multiverse Chase: Chapter 2

Mabel sat along in a quiet area around the Shack, having found a nice sign post from some long forgotten event to slowly bump her head against. She'd been soaking in the damp dirt for some time now, leaving her quite filthy looking, a fact that was entirely eclipsed by the emotional turmoil she was sorting through at the moment.

 _"Dipper doesn't trust me"_ she thought to herself, turning it over in her head and trying to make sense of it. If she were to vocalize the thought, Mabel had no idea whether the sentence would end in a question mark, and exclamation point or a period. _"We're just like our Grunkles after all..."_

Then, with another bonk to the post, she rethought her position. _"No, that's not right Mabel, you looked in Dipper's eyes when he willingly stepped in the portal, and he was as sad as you were! Dipper WANTS to be able to trust me, but thinks he can't."_

Her head hit the post again, harder with anger this time. _"Well then, I'll just stay right here until Dipper comes back from his stupid adventures and decides to trust me again!"_ Within moments, the absurdity of her statement hit her and the anger deflated. _"No, that's hopeless, Dipper won't just come back to me at some point. He's got Grunkle Ford, and the mysteries of the infinite, and Pacifica Northwest now!"_

The next hit to the post was another strong blow. _"Of course Dipper trusts them though, they deserve it! They didn't help Bill Cipher destroy the world, and they weren't useless against him!"_

A sense of realization was beginning to flow through Mabel Pines as she banged her head on the sign post. _"Just look at me! I'm laying around in the mud hitting my head on a post, of course Dipper can't trust me, he can't even depend on me! I'm not smart like him or Grunkle Ford, and I'm not even clever or strong like Grunkle Stan! I've always gotten through life just by being Mabel, but Mabel isn't going to cut it anymore!"_

Flesh slammed into the wooden post again, but this time it was an angry, determined fist, cracking and splitting the wood in several place. "Even if I have to change who I am to make myself worthy of Dipper's trust again, nothing will stop me from getting my brother back!" She proclaimed out loud.

* * *

"No way kid." replied Grunkle Stan, looking over at Mabel applying bandages to her recently de-splintered and cleaned hand.

"But Grunkle Stan, I need to be able to help and protect Dipper if he's ever going to be able to trust me again!" Mabel begged. "And you're the toughest, coolest old man I know! Can't you show me some of your tricks?"

The old man let out a regretful sigh. "Mabel, I didn't exactly train at some kind of crime dojo that I'm sure you're imagining to pick up these skills of mine you know. I mean, the boxing lessons as a kid helped, but that was basic stuff. Everything I learned about real fighting, survival, I learned on the cold, hard streets, and I'd rather relive every bit of pain and cruelty that part of my life had then let you experience a second of it!"

"Fine, don't do it for me, do it for Dipper!" Mabel yelled. "When he said he couldn't trust me it hurt him just as much as it hurt me. Help me stop that Grunkle Stan, I need to be capable and helpful, someone Dipper can depend on, someone worthy of his trust!" She exclaimed, tears beginning to creep into her eyes.

Stan seemed to be getting nervous now. "Look, pumpkin, you're overreacting. Dipper's just got a lot going on right now, he'll cool off and you'll be back best friends in no time! The best thing to do is wait it out and not do something stupid that could get you hurt while he's gone." He said hurriedly.

"Is that what you did when you lost Grunkle Ford?" Mabel asked pointedly, then looked down when she realized what she said. "I'm... I'm sorry Grunkle Stan, that wasn't fair. I haven't lost Dipper, he's just... being distant right now. It'll pass I guess." When she looked up, Stan had taken to staring at his own feet.

"I'll help you Mabel." He said in a softer voice. "I'm sorry, I just... I want to keep you kids safe more then anything else, but if you and Dipper split up it'll be way more painful then anything that could go wrong if we do this." Then, he perked up a little and cracked. "Alright, rule number one: never tell you parents I taught you anything!"

Mabel's face brightened up and she giggled back. "Come on Grunkle Stan, I'm not a kid anymore, I'll be 17 by the end of this summer! And besides, I've been following rule number one since that fishing trip you took me and Dipper on!"

"Hey, when you're as old as I am, you can call anyone you want to kid!" He laughed back. "Come around the back of the house in 20 minutes, I'll have things set up."

20 minutes later, the two spirited twins were behind the Mystery Shack, where Stan had set up a punching bag on a stand and was presenting Mabel with a pair of boxing gloves. As soon as she slipped them on her hands, Stan bopped her on the head with a rolled up newspaper. "First mistake Mabel: playing fair! The gloves alone might cut it back in boxing class, but I think we can skip to the more advanced concepts! Now, I'm gonna turn my back for 10 minutes, and during that time you're gonna weigh those gloves with whatever you can find!"

10 minutes later, Stan turned around to find Mabel waiting for him, humming an innocent tune with a smile on her face. Stan grinned back at her. "That'a girl! Now, since I don't really know where I'm starting here, just go to town on that punching bag for a bit, let me size you up a little."

Mabel nodded her head, then set up in front of the bag. She jittered in place for a few seconds, dukes up, then began throwing punch after punch at suspended bag.

 _"Hmm, no technique at all and very little strength behind each hit, but boy is she fast!"_ Stan thought to herself as she landed a lightning quick barrage of light, untrained blows on the punching bag. As she went though, Mabel's punches were hitting harder, as it seemed she built energy from extended hitting as opposed to draining. She slowly grew a more focused and angry expression as she hammered away, turning Stan's proud smile into a small frown.

He became properly concerned when her constant punching eventually snapped the old rope connecting the bag to its rickety setup, and instead of collapsing in exhaustion Mabel jumped on top of the bag as soon as it hit the dirt and viciously punched the same spot over and over. "Mabel, Mabel, stop, that's enough!" Stan called out in a concerned tone, then added "I think you got him." in a sarcastic tone as her arms slowed down, the section she was punching over and over beginning. "Jeez kid, what got into you? Thinking of a high school teacher you didn't like?" His jokey tone faded as he saw Mabel's eyes were beginning to water over.

It vanished completely when her gloves slid off revealing a thin layer of blood all over her hands.

Stan was stunned silent as he checked the gloves, revealing Mabel had filled the gloves with discarded garden bricks. They'd added weight to every punch while grinding her knuckles raw. Trying to blink back the pain without any complaining or further tears, Mabel asked "So what's the next lesson?"

"Next lesson is not to give yourself bloody knuckles by dropping a brick in the gloves!" Stand yelled, anger born of worry. "I left a perfectly usable pair of broken garden spades right in the open. The flat metal plate would have slid in perfectly, and more importantly wouldn't have ground up your hands!"

"I wanted the most damage per punch." Mabel replied simply.

"More damage at the cost of hurting yourself is never worth it kid." Stan stated in an usually stern voice. "You fight to keep people from hurting you, to punch back at the world when it punches you. Damaging yourself defeats the whole purpose of it!"

"If it protects Dipper, I'll take all the damage I have to." Mabel said determinedly. "I have to become worthy of his trust again Grunkle Stan, I can't let our bond dissolve! But I'm useless to him as I am, a helpless complainer who killed all those people by helping Bill Cipher invade so I don't know why he'd ever... ever trust me again..." Her previous tears of pain had begun to turn to weeping.

Grunkle Stan looked down at her solemnly. "You're not a murderer, Mabel. I mean, at best all that would get classified as manslaughter." Realizing that was rather tactless, he then added, in a more serious tone of voice, "Besides, it takes one to know one..."

A shiver went up Mabel's spine as she looked at Stan with wide, almost scared eyes. "No... no Grunkle Stan, that's not true!"

He looked down at his feet, a very rare expression of shame on his face. "Kid, I was a wandering criminal since I was a teenager until I stole Ford's identity. I never went out and... well, hunted someone down to kill them, but you don't need to be a genius like Ford to know that sometimes when you beat someone's ass they can just die from that!" Stan shouted in an unexpectedly angry and frustrated tone. Then, he emotionally deflated and sat down on the beaten punching bag, holding his head in his hands.

Despite the foreign feeling of fear of her Grunkle worming into Mabel's mind, she nonetheless sat besides him and patted him on the arm. "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked awkwardly, not sure if this was at all appropriate but finding it strangely cathartic.

Grunkle Stan pulled his face up, and looked dead ahead as he began to speak. "His name was Jacob Daleson, he was a fence who did business out of his garage in an ideal small town America, post the coal mine drying up and crank becoming the area's main export. I was trying to sell some... god I don't even remember what it was. I might not even have stolen it. Anyway, we were arguing over price, he got mad and attacked me with a tire iron. He got a few good hits in, but I managed to snatch it from him, bashed him across the chest with it, then punched him in the head until he went down. Then I stole one of the bikes he had stored among the goods and fled."

Mabel was quiet all the while, but could tell Stan was burdened by the same feelings she felt upon seeing the forest graveyard, and they weighed down on him for many years. "I was reading the paper a few days and... and he was in the local obituary. I hadn't even seen it when I ran away, but he landed face down and drowned in his own blood. Like I said, you don't need to be a genius to know that could happen... you just needed to be smarter then me."

He let out a long sigh at this. "I felt sick as soon as I read that. I had to throw up in a cheap public toilet. I had only been out on my own for a few years at that point and just... felt terrible about killing the guy but didn't know what else I could have done. So, for a few months I did my best not to end up fighting people. When that ended up with me getting beaten up, I fought back again but tried to be more careful with how I was swinging. That didn't work either, so then I just made sure to avoid reading the obituary."

The two were quiet for a very long time after this. Grunkle Stan, despite his desire to come clean, used the silence to tell a practiced life of omission, his lifetime habit of deception crushing him like a weight, added by the emotional pain he felt as the possibility of losing Mabel. _"After all, you're already in dangerous water here Stanley. She'd never want to look at you again if she knew what happened in that South American prison."_ And so, despite having barred his soul to her less than a minute ago, Stan closed it again, sealing away the unspeakable things he did to survive in that foreign penitentiary, never to see the light of day.

"Mabel... do you think I'm a bad guy?" Stan asked, genuine nervousness in his voice.

"If you're a bad guy Grunkle Stan, then I'm a bad guy too." Mable replied in a comforting tone.

"Heh, I'll agree with that." Stan replied in a relieved, forced jokey tone, and the two opted to just sit there for awhile, watching the sky and ruing their mistakes.


	9. Multiverse Chase: Chapter 3

The light receded as three travelers found themselves standing under a beautiful expanse of a thick orange alien sky, with patches of green dotted among it. Under the guidance of Stanford Pines, Dipper Pines and Pacifica Northwest has taken their first steps onto a life bearing alien world.

After escaping the space station they'd previously adventured on, the trio had returned to their home for only a short while. Stanford's work quickly determined Bill Cipher was still in the same universe, having merely used psychic projection to travel across space. As such, they could not use time distortion between dimensions to buy themselves downtime and had to set off after him as soon as they were resupplied.

 _"That was probably for the best."_ Dipper thought to himself. He hadn't even seen Mabel during his return to earth, having not even left the underground laboratory during the stopover. _"I can't run away from this forever, but... I just need time to work this out. How could she have hid that from me for so many years!"_ Then, he shook his head and gazed onto the horizon, deciding to stow such thoughts for and take in the breathtaking alien vista.

Pacifica was in much the same place of mind, the grand view and wonder of an alien world spoiled by dark thoughts. Shooting the insect soldier to save Dipper's life had brought back to surface the deaths of her own parents at the hands of Bill Cipher. Even if they'd become increasingly harsh and neglectful to her as they lived as members of the middle class, Pacifica was uncomfortable with her stunted emotional reaction to the event. Should she be feeling bad, feeling bad about not feeling bad, or is this void of emotion acceptable? In the end, she also opted to simply watch the skyline for a moment.

Ford meanwhile, had completed his analysis of the surrounding area. "Atmosphere is breathable but projected, so keep your eyes out for some kind of dividing line we shouldn't cross. Other than that conditions are surprisingly Earth-like, though gravity tension shows we're pretty high above the planet's sea level..."

The reason for that became clear a moment later, as the three began to look around their environment properly and realized they were on a huge platform attached to some kind of industrial installation, as when they turned around from their original positions the colorful skyline disappeared behind tall exhaust towers and light studded buildings.

More pressingly, Bill Cipher was right behind them.

Well, a body possessed by Bill at least. The original being was human shaped (two arms, two legs and a head) but clearly alien, having long, bony fingernails, exceedingly damp, slimy skin that danced with shifting patches of bright color, and a head that was covered in firm bristles but not a spot of hair. Despite his ability to hide his possession, Bill was proudly broadcasting a twisted grin, an improvised walked stick and a bright yellow light flowing out of the alien's naturally small, beady eyes.

"Heya Sixer, Pine Tree, Laama, enjoying the sights!?" The possessed vessel spoke to the three. Ford didn't even respond, instead opting to dig inside his coat for a non-lethal weapon, but was quickly chided by the possessed alien. "I wouldn't do that Sixer, since Overseer Fex (that's me now, by the way!) has posted security snipers to observe your arrival and called for backup. Oh, here they are now!"

With heavy footsteps, a band of aliens of the same species as Bill's possession but in heavier armor came storming out onto the platform and surrounded the intruders, menacing them with drawn sticks crackling with electricity and hip stowed sidearms. "Take them away boys! And do be careful with them, we CERTAINLY wouldn't want any accidents befalling our mysterious guests, now would we?" The dream demon stated sarcastically.

The security staff moved in around the three humans, and while the younger two were tense with potential motion, Ford was indicating they should give up for now. "Now gentlemen, if you're going to be rough on anyone take it out on me, these two are no threat to you. Now, I'm guessing your immediate assumption is that we're spies, so I'll get things out of the way and protest that we're simply visitors so you can not believe me now rather than later." He remarked as his hands were folded behind his back to march him.

"Wait, guys, you're all being tricked, your boss here is an evil demon!" Dipper tried to argue as he was similarly manhandled. "...Wait, I bet most of you already think that..."

"Is nobody in the multiverse ever happy to see you guys?" Pacifica asked sarcastically while being captured herself.

As they were marched through the industrial facility, the travelers from Earth noticed that, for the massive size of the construction on the outside, the interior was a notably small series of corridors, offices and control rooms with very few elevators and stairs. "Given the apparent tech level, much of this facility is probably heavily automated..." Ford observed out loud.

Everyone they passed fit into two categories: Either they were more members of the alien species Bill had possessed, wearing everything from military uniforms/body armor, baggy full body outfits similar to industrial laborers on earth, and jumpsuits held on by tool bearing belts and sturdy helmets, while the other group were more uniform: Extremely tall individuals clad entirely in what were presumably protective suits with large breathing mechanisms on the face and chest, connected to back mounted tanks. It was unclear how whatever was inside the suit saw the outside, as the outfit lacked a viewing plate.

To their surprise though, instead of prison cells, the trio were delivered to what was clearly a medical laboratory, with several cots, human sized liquid tanks and secured needle boxes scattered between the tables piled with sample bottles, chemical mixers and data reading personal computers. One of the aliens was waiting for them, clad in a bright orange and extremely tight long sleeve jacket and pants but no shoes, gloves or head garment. Instead those areas were encased with a thin plastic-looking sheer that extended out of the arm holes, pant legs and neckline of his outfit.

This alien scientist approached them with careful intrigue, already taking note of their unique demeanor: Stanford was straightening his back and attempting to look non-threatening but dignified, mentally putting his words together for the inevitable moment when he'd be asked who they are. Dipper was simply gazing around the alien laboratory in delight, while Pacifica was tapping her foot with a mix of anger, impatience and wariness.

"Hmm, emotional responses seem possible, engaging preliminary central scan." He breathed to no one in particular, first running a display bearing stick with two curly coil wires coming out of the end up and down Ford's body, before holding up a large, flat pad with a screen on one side and a wide lens and numerous sensory devices on the other. After holding it up to Ford's head for a minute, he used the pad but not the stick on Dipper and Pacifica, and soon after set it down and cracked a smile at the three. "Well congratulations, none of you are Cybercontrolled Auxiliary Organics to the enemy."

While the group simply looked confused despite the psychic translation, the alien continued on. "Of course, this means you think you're not converted. Could have all kinds of little tricks and flash programmers wired into your nervous system just waiting to strike, which is why I regret to say that you'll all have to remain in this room, under guard until the Deep Nerve Analyzer confirms you have no bugs inside you." He explained while pointing to a raised platform across the room, which when active used magnets to float a sensor ring up and town the user's body. "But, this preliminary tests show your original intelligence is currently intact, so I have some conversation buddies for the long analysis. But where are my manners? I am Mutrak Galaray Havrum of the Swift Coral School, and I apologize for the whole prisoners thing."

"Doctor Stanford Pines, a pleasure to meet you, think nothing of it." The old human replied with startling practiced efficiency while stepping forward to be the first one into the scanner, taking any possible hits for the younger two and getting close enough to examine it.

"Ah, a sapient of science, that's delightful!" The lab worker said with sincerity. "Tell me, what brings you to this backwards stretch of the galaxy? Do you... do you remember why you're here?"

"Well to be honest I don't entirely know where here is. The three of us were experimenting with a new transporter device and aren't really sure if it fired correctly." Ford replied as the the sensor ring moved up and down his body, searching his biological form for synthetic intrusion.

"Oh dear. Well, I can confirm you've gone far off course." Doctor Havrum replied. "Welcome to Rigel 7, a water logged, swamp choked moon of an unstable gas giant." he explained with resignation. "You're aboard Aqua-Pump 333, an industrial facility that collects gas products of the swamp below us and processes them for transport off world, operated by the Dralldak Mining and Munitions Company. The gasses produced by this environment, you see, are used as high quality ionizer for direct energy weapons by the military of over 100 member states of the Living Pact. As messy business as this place and its sister locations are, they do provide an invaluable tool for use against the Enemy."

Everyone's attention perked at the mention of this mysterious enemy once again. Ford however, quickly deduced that showing no knowledge of an enemy that over 100 galactic governments were working together against was the most suspicious thing possible, so instead he opted to move the conversation down the other avenue. "By, messy business do you mean Overseer Fex? He was quite heavy handed with us when we arrived."

The alien seemed caught in his own thoughts for a moment, muttering "Yes, Fex has been acting a little unusual lately, I should try to arrange a checkup for him..." Then he snapped to, and responded more directly with "No, I mean the trouble with the natives."

"What kind of natives and what kind of trouble, exactly?" Pacifica asked, derision creeping into her voice and memory of one of her ancestor's paintings into her head.

"The native Rigelians are one of the most interesting sapient species I have studied." Doctor Havrum explained. "They live as sapient, telepathic free floating masses of sea weed like organisms, surviving as ambush predators directly draining electrical energy from their prey in the murky, plant covered swamp bottoms. Fascinating biology, but they are, unfortunately, very primitive otherwise." Then, he seemed to catch is own words, then stumbled out a follow up: "No, primitive isn't the right word. Their grasp of tactics and the limited telepathic connections they've made with some of us show they're undeniably intelligent and it's absurd to think their technology would develop along the same lines as ours, but, but they just don't understand!" he cried out in frustration.

"What don't they understand exactly?" she asked again.

"They don't understand the threat the enemy poses to the galaxy, to life as a concept!" He exclaimed, then rubbed the plastic film over his head in a frustrated manner and spoke in a slower, more regretful manner. "They don't want us on their planet, drawing resources out of their swamps, and under normal circumstances galactic law would respect that but the resources here are too vital to the war effort. Sure, blaster weapons with more 21.9% higher stopping power, 70% faster cooling efficiency and a 4-fold ammunition capacity isn't as dramatic or flashy as the Jaxal Cluster's Battlesphere but performance reviews prove they are game changers! When the mutual understanding programs reach fruition though, when they understand the danger they're in, I'm certain they'll cooperate with us."

"What kind of a program is that?" Dipper asked with genuine curiosity.

"It'd be much easier to show you actually." Doctor Havrum stated, then made a beckoning gesture across the lab, and to the surprise of all three earthlings, one of the tall, full body suited individuals they'd seen in the corridors surged into motion, having blended in perfectly with the rest of the lab equipment due to a total lack of prior movement.

"This is a Rigelian Cultural Exchange Suit." The local doctor explained. "Developed by people much better paid then I am to provide a comfortable means for the psychic, non-localized nervous system Rigelians to move among the instillation and hopefully learn to communicate." He then looked slightly distressed. "They understand us perfectly well, as they've responded to media recordings and psychoprojections about the Enemy by willingly assisting in the operation of the systems here, but none of them have managed to use the vocabulator to generate consistent speech."

"So how to you pick out people to be brought aboard and put in the suits?" Pacifica asked, her voice growing accusing at the idea. "You said yourself you can't really communicate with them very well even when they're in the suits, so how do you pick them out?"

"Well, we, just kind of collect the healthiest seeming ones of the bunch whenever we're looking to expand the number of operational suits." Havrum explained, sounding more uncomfortable with the idea the longer he discussed it. "Believe me, the idea we may accidentally be separating family members as they understand it from each other has occurred to us, but command assures when communication is achieved they'll all be put back together, it's for their own good in the long run."

Pacifica scowled, having heard her father use similar language regarding his business holdings in third world countries, but chose not to push the point while they were already under suspicion. Soon enough, all three had been scanned and were being shuffled off to a brig cell ("purely temporary, until the paperwork clears") while Doctor Havrum prepared to file his results: the three visitors were completely clean of infectious cybernetics.

Unfortunately, he was due for a visitor.

"Heya Coral, how's it hanging!?" Overseer Fex practically yelled from a few inches away from the aquatic alien's head, sending him falling from his chair both from the noise and surprise. When did Fex get so soft footed. "I'm just dropping by to confirm the discovery of infiltration cybernetics in person, you know, cut out some paperwork!"

The medical expert collected himself on the floor, gathering up the papers he'd dropped and getting to his feet. "Well, sir, in that front I actually have some good news! They're completely clean of cybernetic implants! While I still don't know where they came from to start with, we can rule out..." He trailed off a Fex gently placed a finger over his lips, running it back and forth to smoosh the plastic film a little. The usually serious Overseer had been acting more whimsical than usual for a bit, but this was downright strange!

"That's really not what I wanted to hear doc." He spoke in a faux regretful tone. "What I needed you to tell me was that you'd successfully located the cybernetic implants that make them pre-programmed agents of The Enemy, and are definitely willing to sign the execution order to have this threat neutralized as soon as possible!"

"Sir! I... I can't sign that, they're not enemy agents, that'd be murder! _"_ He protested, growing afraid of his usually stern but reasonable boss.

"And this is war." Fex stated pointedly. "The most important war in the history of forever, and sometimes in war, people get murdered." He said in a mocking, baby talk tone. "It can either be the prisoners, or it can be some unfortunate civilians who simply had the bad luck of dwelling in well furnished coral house on depth level 39 on the north tide neighborhood of the city of Shragath."

Havrum's swim bladder felt like it was turning to stone, sending waves of dread as it knocked into the walls of his insides. That address was where he and his wife were tending to their collection of eggs, still in the very basic stage of life before they'd be collected and sent to School to grow in a great community of thousands. But though he talked about his wife and offspring as often as anyone else, he'd never said that address out loud, how did the increasingly manic looking Overseer know?

"I know lots of things!" Fex responded, practically reading his mind. "Now, do your job, report those implants, and sign their death warrants!" And with that, he clicked on his heels and walked out, leaving a shaking scientist behind. "I expect that termination notice on my personal computer in five minutes!"

Left shaking in panic and disbelief, Doctor Havrum disregarded lab protocol and ripped the protective film from his head before spraying himself with a bottle of mineral water mixed into a crude approximation of his homeworld's seas. All the stress had nearly dried out his skin.

 _"This is madness, this is murder!"_ He panicked to himself. _"But, there's no way he could possibly threaten my family, they're three sectors away!"_ But as he thought more on his dilemma, the more fear grew inside the amphibious scientist. _"Something about his eyes though... Those eyes, staring and burning into me. He meant every word of it. I have no idea how he'd do it, but the beast that used to be this base's Overseer would see my family dead, somehow."_

"I need to alert, orbital, need to alert command the base commander has gone insane!" He spoke out loud, now talking to himself and pacing from terror. "But that will take time, I can't just let them..." His words trailed off as he looked over to the now completely still Rigelian lab assistant. "You, you can help them! Please, my faithful assistant, go to the brig and set those people free! Hopefully they can stay alive long enough for me to get Fex relieved of command and the order rescinded."

The strange, suited up being was silent for a moment, looking down on the alien with an inscrutable method. Then, without any noise, it lumbered out the door, hopefully down to the brig. When that was done, Doctor Havrum went to the nearest computer terminal and began typing the order.

Down the hallway, Bill Cipher was cheerily driving the body of Overseer Fex down an uninhabited hallway, the body's nerve receptors doing a poor job of translating Bill's sadistic happiness, and the consciousness of the Fex screaming at his own body every step of the way.

 _"WITH SIXER SENTENCED TO DEATH I THINK MY TIME ON THIS SCRAP HEAP IS COMING TO AN END!"_ Bill thought to himself, then said the following out loud so the real Fex could hear him. "So Fexy-boy, you made a deal with me because you wanted a way to make this swamp gas even more potent, and I've finally got an answer for you: Blow up an industrial refinery in the middle of a huge pocket of it!" He laughed a little, then added softly "I know it's not battlefield applicable right now, but the DARPA boys will sort that out."

Coming upon an abandoned break room, Bill drove the body to punch in the code for an empty snack shelf on a snack machine. A moment later, the makeshift door slide back and Bill entered a secret space intended as a hidey hole in case of alien invasion. Inside the small chamber was one of the Rigelian Cultural Exchange Suit, cracked open, and it's occupant strewn out across the air of the place, the shifting cords of seaweed like substance pulled to their absolute tensest by a carefully arranged series of wall hooks.

"Ready to scream for mommy?" Bill asked mockingly before turning on the electricity.

Down in the brig, the three had been quickly searched so all weapons and tools could be confiscated and then shoved in a single room together. Dipper chose to break the silence by asking the question on everyone's mind. "Grunkle Ford, do you think "The Enemy" they were talking about are the same... whatever that wiped out that space station?"

"I'm certain of it." Ford replied. "We're in the same dimension and they've been described as a galactic level threat. It's the perfect background for Bill to worm his way in and acquire power, make deals with people who are scared of this enemy enough, desperate to survive." He was walking around the cell while he talked, looking for anything of interest in the simple, rectangular room.

"We need to get ready, I don't doubt Bill is gonna cut the red tape to take care of us." Pacifica stated while trying to fit herself sideways against the door. Dipper nodded, and also did his best to try and position himself. In the end, it was less than impressive: The utter simplicity of the perfectly flat walls, floor, ceiling and wall mounted cots proved difficult to set up an ambush in, and the most they'd accomplished was Ford discarding his coat for Dipper and Pacific to hide under while he stood right in the front of the door to catch attention. Still, if security guards had orders to just enter the room and spray them down, there was little they could do.

Fortunately, when the door slid open, it wasn't a heavily armed kill team behind it, simply a single suited up Rigelian, who then stood back from the entrance, seemingly to let them out. The three looked in confusion, until Pacifica noticed something distinguishing about it. "You're that one the doctor showed us, aren't you?" She asked. "You've got a little purple dye stain on your arm I noticed back when you were introduced to us."

The suited being didn't respond, but did begin to lumber after them when they took off down a corridor, retracing their steps to the confiscated gear.

Shortly after, the three were approaching a hallway checkpoint, where the hallways was cut across the center by iron bars, and the only way into and out of the brig was to pass through a transparent aluminum and force field protected security station, which had a door on one side of the bars, a door on the other, and all their confiscated gear inside. As they approach, a small compliment of the aquatic aliens in security uniforms were lounging about, looking bored.

"Okay, corporate security has two kinds of people in it." Pacifica whispered as they approached the post as quietly as possible down the narrow hallway. "The kind of people who want every day to have a fight in it, or the kind who'd like their work hours to have no fighting at all. Let's hope these guys are the second type."

Abruptly though, everyone at the station perked to attention as their personal comms lit up. A few of them turned to march down the hall, then stood slackjawed upon spotting the humans walking up to them. Shortly after, they eagerly drew weapons and began throwing sizzling energy bursts down the way. The humans' escape had been discovered.

"Always gotta be type ones." Pacifica groaned as she dove for cover. The three of them found temporary safety behind door frames and a full face water fountains. A small number of security troopers were advancing slowly, practicing undue caution with the idea the escapees might be waiting to ambush them with concealed weapons.

"Grunkle Ford, catch!" Dipper shouted, tossing the older man a pocket weapon hidden in the sole of his foot, an absolutely pitiful hold out blaster that was nonetheless the only option available. Ford attempted returning fire with it, but couldn't even penetrate the rent-a-cop armor the attackers were wearing with it.

Suddenly though, the Rigelian, who'd locked up and stood stock still when the shooting began, animated once more and began advancing on the soldiers. "What the abyss is one of those stupid seaweeds going here?" One of the troops shouted in confusion and anger.

"Who cares, probably some delivery job it doesn't understand, keep firing!" Another responded, and in their attempts to shoot the earthlings, security landed several grazing blows on the suited alien, though they otherwise completely ignored his presence.

This changed when, in a moment where it seemed like the hulking suit would pass through the shooting squad without incident, it snapped with speed no one on base thought the suits were capable of and grabbed one of the soldiers by the legs and swung him once into the bulkhead, hard enough to dent his helmet and crumple his muscles. It dropped him to the floor before reaching for another.

"Damn thing's gone psycho, waste it!" A security officer called out, but the powerful suit was already inside their formation, letting it break apart the individual officers with simply, powerful movements while their shots burned into the material but could not stop it. The few remaining guards inside the post rushed out with electrical batons and did even worse against it. Within seconds it was over, the security complement beat either unconscious or into immobilizing pain as the earthlings walked through a pile of heavily breathing, unnaturally shaped humanoids.

"Hey thanks, uh, plant guy." Dipper said to it after retrieving his own gear, unsure how to thank the still totally silent alien towering before him, showing no other signs of aggression now that all company employees were thoroughly beaten. Then a crease formed on the boy's forehead. "Uh, looks like you sprung a leak. Grunkle Ford, you think we should fix this?"

The older scientist was actually troubled at this. "Based on what we were told of how these aliens function, it's very possible loss of properly chemically balanced water could be a sizable problem for them. We do have some quick seal material that could at least patch the suit up, but Bill will now we escaped by now and we need to catch up to him." He posited, while feeling the weight of a new model Memory Gun in his hands, tuning it to Bill Cipher ahead of time.

"I'll do it." Pacifica spoke up. "Give me the spray stuff and I'll patch this guy up. It's the least we owe him."

"I'm not leaving you behind Pacifica." Dipper said with determination, which made the blond smile, but she was quick to play it off.

"Don't worry dork, I got these remember?" She said while holding up one of her Fast Return Switches. "Once he's all patched up or if more security arrives, I'll portal out into the Shack's basement. I have complete confidence you two can stop Bill."

Though it weighed heavily on Dipper, he nodded and took off with Ford to hunt down Bill, while Pacifica set to work looking for softly leaking patches and sealing them with quick drying liquid plastic from a silver container.

The alien stood completely still as Pacifica patched him up, but abruptly stomped a foot against the metal floor when she was done. The girl was slightly confused, but abruptly felt a feeling of energy flow from her feet to her head, and focusing in on the mindswimmer inside her sinus.

"HOME." She felt inside her head.

"You want to go back to the swamp, right?" Pacifica asked him. Though the psychic entity remained silent and physically immobile, she could feel affirmation rolling over her. Pacifica looked down at her disk mounted switch, then with a look of determination pocketed a security blaster. "Okay, I'll try to get you home."

Meanwhile, Ford and Dipper were racing down the metal corridors. They encountered little in resistance as almost everyone seemed to on duty. With no other idea how the facility was formed, the two opted to retrace their steps back to the medical laboratory and go from there.

Unfortunately, the laboratory was holding a grizzly sight: Doctor Havrum was laying over his computer desk, a smoking hole drilled into his head by an energy blaster. A second after spotting this, Dipper and Ford ducked low as Bill Cipher fired a blast at them from behind a table. "Don't you ever DIE Sixer!" Fex's voice screamed out Bill's frustration. He then fired a second blast to destroy the computer system, unsure if Havrum had sent out the report or not.

Ford returned fire against Bill, trying to aim for the knees so the possession victim could be exorcised via memory gun. Bill quickly ducked out the door, and the two humans ran off after him.

Pacifica meanwhile was following the massive animated suit deeper in the facility, with it having used several elevators flawlessly. She eventually found herself atop a series of maintenance walkways atop the water level, weaving between the great pipes sinking into the swamp. The surface of the water was choked by huge masses of what she knew at a glance was the native, psychic creatures, the great plant clumps possessing stem lumps that flashed various colors in strange patterns and filled the air with a heavy charge.

As she turned to ask a probably futile question to her companion, the charge that filled the air seemed to overwhelm her, as Pacifica's body grew heavy while her eyes dilated and began to glow. Every nerve ending in her body was telling her she was suddenly underwater, save the ones in the girl's chest that burned when oxygen levels were dangerously low. According to her eyes, she was floating in a murky void of some kind, and according to some other, inexplicable sense, the void was alive.

The Pines meanwhile had cornered Bill's host body on the edge of the landing platform they'd arrived on, still empty of a ship. The operated organic puppet came to a sliding stop just at the edge of the massive drop, and spun around to reveal Fex's own blaster was pointed at his chin as Ford approached, Dipper at his side and his own blaster aimed right at Bill's host.

"Aw come on Sixer, put the gun down will you?" Bill requested mockingly. "We both know you won't shoot a civilian just to get to me, and with this precarious drop behind me your kneecapping strategy is right out!" Ford didn't at all relax his grip, but did opt not to shoot, while Dipper had some uncomfortable memories brought back at the concept of Bill throwing a possessed body to its death. "Splendid! Now we can all have a little talk about how everyone on this scrap heap is going to die!"

"You are outsider pathogen. You function against the workings of the Metal Predator and were marked for phagocytosis. You are a separate individual. You have have shown help to an singed digit of our being." The Entity did not speak to her purely through words. The thought, the meaning the vast psychic intelligence opted to convey to Pacifica was carried through her watery realm in waves, and stimulated every nerve ending with its message. "You are to be spared."

"I've had less flattering descriptions of myself, but how about we talk about you?" Pacifica responded. When she spoke, all her sense told her water was filling her mouth and throat, save the ones that would warning her this is a bad thing, and she could still tell her words were understood. "What am I being spared from? What are you exactly?"

"We are the neuron cells of the world's dominant organism, prior to the arrival of the Metal Predators from the Driving Heat. The Metal Predators feed on our nutrient streams and consume our energy reserves, spreading sickness and death across the greater organism. The arrival of you and your fellow pathogens has coincided with our plan to end this suffering via mass destruction of Metal Predator body cells and nerve vessels."

"See, the psychic seaweed that evolved on this planet thinks each of the refineries are all just big single organisms eating them, so they plan to destroy them from the inside." Bill explained, taking great joy in his recollection of the conflict. "They don't really understand that the individual workers here all have personal intelligence, but hey when their only exposure to the idea is office workers, contractors and corporate rent a cops it isn't surprising they don't understand individuality!"

"We have grown inside the body of the Metal Predator, our interconnected network growing into the ducts and feeding tubes while disconnected parts have invaded heavy body cells and walked among the other body cells, engaging in retrovirus implantation inside the greater organism."

Understanding was beginning to dawn on Pacifica as well. "But how is that going to let you destroy the refinery?"

"The Metal Predator controls itself through an electrical nervous system, spreading out from a fuel inefficient central brain all over the body, delivering instructions to body cells via the glowing hormone dispensers." The Entity explained. "We have evolved the ability to release small chemical electrical discharges from out body sections for purpose of acquiring nutrients, but observation has shown that when the nerve system of the Metal Predator is giving too much electricity, body dysfunction and cell death occurs."

"They plan to use their electric eel trick to fry the electronics system coordinating the base after they wired their stems all over the place," Bill explained. "But, what they haven't counted on is a buildup of highly volatile waste gas a careless Overseer has allowed to reach critical mass," he continued with a malicious chuckle, "So when their electrical pulse goes off, the first blast will turn into a chain reaction, blasting this base to pieces! That'll leave you, your two brats, and everyone who worked here dead right away, while the burning, spewing remains of this base will be pumping hazardous chemicals into this lovely natural vista and poisoning the locals for far into the foreseeable future!"

"This action was not to be taken for some cycles, but aggression by the Metal Predator has accelerated out need." The Entity spoke to Pacifica. "It has begun deliberately damaging our nerve endings to send waves of suffering through the greater organism. We fear this means it has uncovered our scheme. Full saturation is not yet accomplished, but body cells that survive the electrical wave will be destroyed kinetically by the heavy cell infecting segments."

"You're planning to kill all them? All the workers!?" Pacifica asked with growing horror.

"Any surviving body cells would be conductive to regeneration of Metal Predator tissue. They are remarkably efficient in repair of self harm." The Void stated.

"You can't kill those people, the refinery doesn't work how you think it does!" Pacifica exclaimed. "Look, I understand you want to stop the attacks on your body, but you've misunderstood how these creatures work! The refinery itself isn't alive, it's just an object, like a rock or a pile of sand. Each and every one of those body cells has an individual mind, just like me and you, and you can't kill all of them just for revenge against the ones that wronged you!" She explained, memories of a Lumberjack Ghost willing to murder an entire party of unrelated people coming to mind.

The Entity did not respond right away. "We... do not understand. The Metal Predator functions as a collective whole, all pieces of it working in perfect unison to accomplish the process of feeding upon us then expelling waste. The body cells do not display individual desires or functions, nor do they feed on one another."

"I mean, that's corporate culture for you." Pacifica snorted, then took on a tone of sincerity. "I know it's difficult to understand for something who is so different from them biologically, and I know I can't explain it as well as Dipper of Doctor Pines could, so I'm not going to bother trying. Instead, I'm going to ask you to trust me that every body cells inside the Metal Predator has a mind of its own, and not all of them deserve to be punished like this. Please, they don't all deserve to die."

"We... do not understand your proclamations. But, we understand you have helped us, we understand your physiology gives you greater insight into this matter than us, and we understand that those thoughts bear great sincerity. We shall abort the electrical wave." Then however, the flat and neutral tone all the thoughts had come in took a darker, heavier tone. "However, we demand that the minds responsible for our suffering be eliminated. They must be punished for their crimes. This we will not falter on."

"Bill Cipher." Pacifica thought, focusing every fiber of her mind on the dream demon she so loathed, letting the psychic get a good, long look at her memory of him. "He's the one you want to destroy."

"Well, cheers then!" The previously mentioned dream demon said before throwing his possessed shell off the side of the platform, cackling madly as the soul of Fex screamed at him in terror and hate and he himself gathered his essence for another psychic projection.

Bill gathered his energy, his memories, his power, all his essence together in the front lobe and cast himself into the astral sea to hunt a new mind weak to his manipulations, and after building energy to the mass and launching himself outward into the open, infinite void, he instead slammed into a brick wall.

The comically exaggerated pose of relaxation he'd bent his host body into became panicked flailing as the great mass of psychic seaweed below used Pacifica's memories to latch in on Bill Cipher inside Fex's mind, trapping him inside and slowly growing tendrils from through the shutting down brain to reach him.

Bill was throwing all his power into a single spot of the mental wall, attempting to break through, when the first root reached him. The mud breaking plant root drilled into his open eye, the perpetual symbol of his true being, ripping apart the outer shell and plunging deep. Cipher screamed in mental agony while Fex's soul laughed madly at this. Fighting through the pain, the dream demon continued to bombard a single point in the wall with all his psychic power, which was slowly being drunk away by the invading roots, digging through the lone eyeball, spreading tendrils and breaking the surface from below to sprout water lilies.

Finally, his strength draining every second, Bill punched a hole in the wall the size of a needle and though his essence drained through it, the roots got in one last win as segments of Bill ripped free by the drinking suction of the roots and were stuck behind. Cast into the astral sea, blinded by pain and severely weakened Bill's mind downloaded into the single most receptive thing in range, as he was desperately in need of any kind of harbor in this storm, not matter how ill-suited his new body would be...

Pacifica returned to reality, no longer surrounded by water and still standing on the maintenance platform while her suited companion waded into the muk without acknowledgement. It took her a moment to regain her senses, and when she did the blond realized her walkie-talkie was crackling. "...cifica, Pacifica, can you hear me!? Grunkle Ford's computer says your Faster Return Switch hasn't flipped yet! We need to get out of here, this place is going to explode!"

Not realizing she herself has averted the threat Dipper was speaking of, her eyes widened. "I hear you Dipper, I can escape back at anytime, I'll explain everything back on earth. Are you guys clear to leave?"

"We are, though we lost Bill. He's probably halfway across the galaxy by now..." Dipper explained bitterly.

In spite of the imminent danger, Pacifica couldn't help but grow a satisfied smile. "Actually, I think I might have gotten him." She was still taken by surprise when his meat puppet hit the water, but brightened up when she felt a faint message on the edge of her brain from the native intelligence. "Again, I'll explain everything back on Earth. Let's get out of here."


	10. Multiverse Chase: Chapter 4

Mabel was sitting by herself on the roof of the Mystery Shack. Following their heart to heart, Grunkle Stan had spent the rest of the day instructing her on less dangerous but just as useful things like lock picking, sleight of hand and lying. With her first day complete, she was left thinking about just how to put these skills to use.

A twinkling in the sky caught her eyes, and a small smile crossed the girl's face that rapidly became jittery concern as the twinkling star fell from the sky and crashed into a distant section of forest!

"Oh my gosh, a shooting star!" She exclaimed with wonder, then felt a bad taste in her mouth when the phrase brought back memories of Bill. Then however, Mabel's memory fired and she quickly opened up her smart phone and began scrolling her emails, specifically each and every one she'd received from Dipper since he'd remained in Gravity Falls, all meticulously saved.

Mabel soon found the one she was looking for, a bunch of pictures Dipper and Ford had taken of a meteor shower over the town about a year ago. Besides the regular discourse about how things have been going and other normal details, Dipper had talked a bit about meteors.

"Let's see: Although we get way more meteors in Gravity Falls then anywhere else in the world (it's a whole thing dealing with Alien Gravometrics, I'll email it all to you) this shower was exceedingly rare and beautiful, so I thought I'd send you some pictures. Tomorrow morning me and Grunkle Ford are going to see if we can gather some meteoroids, they can be used for some interesting arcane purposes..." She read aloud before pocketing the phone in resolution.

Soon after, Mabel Pines was clattering through the forest, pack full of supplies over her back and a rickety shopping cart she'd noticed sitting in a stream during her earlier forest outing with Dipper and fished out to haul the space rock back in. The sun was beginning to set, the fading orange light dimmed further by the thick tree canopy above. Though the girl had many good memories of running through these woods during that first summer, now the forest felt different: The pervading hum of life, both natural and supernatural, was dull and faded compared to her memories.

Mabel remembered back to her first weeks in alone in California, when Dipper and her had communicated constantly: Dipper had talked at length about how silent and lifeless the woods had become, after Bill Cipher had salted the earth with blood. Life was returning here, but the scar tissue would always remain.

The oppressive atmosphere of the place sent a chill down Mabel's spine and made her wince with each particularly heavy creaking noise her cart made, but she pressed on regardless of this disquiet. It took a pair of sharp yellow eyes opening from the darkness a mere five feet in front of her to finally bring Mabel to a frightened stop.

The creature had been there all along Mabel realized, as it's emergence from darkness more resembled a body growing in place around the yellow eyes, now recognizable as those of a large reptile. It was tall and muscularly slim, green scales coating a human shaped form, arms and legs ending in long, webbed claws, while a whip-like tail slowly drew itself out of the undergrowth. Those yellow eyes split vertically and were crossed by swollen veins, and seemed to drill holes in Mabel as the reptilian creature extended to full height, towering over her. Then, it began to speak.

"Have you come to the deep, dark woods chasing falling stars, little human?" It whispered, voice like dripping oil on a carpet floor. "There are no stones from space here small mammal, only food and menace down here in the undergrowth."

"What are you talking about?" Mabel replied, discreetly feeling about her pockets to see what's there and trying not to show fear to the creature.

"Can't you taste the air!?" It asked harshly, before extending a long forked tongue into the air and whipping it around rapidly, drawing it back in with an exalted look on its face. "The scent so thick you can cut it with a knife and devour it by itself, the scent of food! And food from above means only one thing, a Rod egg sac has hit the earth!"

"And you want to it eat?" Mabel asked, carefully allowing more fear to enter her voice.

"Of course I want to eat it!" The lizard man snapped, gesturing with genuine anger. "Sizable prey has been damn near impossible to find in this forest since the fire and death scourged it, even all these years later, and the last time I tried hunting a unicorn I nearly got my lung popped!" But then, his anger faded as his eyes looked far away while his clawed fingers twitched in anticipation. "But if I get this motherload hidden nice and away, I'll be able to eat good for years! Yes, I'm going to eat it little mammal, and you're going to help me!"

"Why... why do you need my help?" Mabel asked while shivering in place. "You're such a big, scary monster and I'm just a human, how could I possibly help?"

"Oh, I'm not quite as strong as I look," the strange monster said with a creeping sarcasm to his voice, abruptly closing the distance between himself and Mabel in the blink of an eye, as if to prove himself wrong. "I'm nothing but scales and bones from these months of hunger fate has dealt me. You're going to go deeper into the forest and bring the egg sac back to me in your lunch wagon." Then, after extending his long tongue to wipe down every corner of his stubby, stunted snout, the lizard creature declared "I'm not leaving this forest on an empty stomach!"

Mabel burst off running, pushing the cart deeper into the woods in an attempt to get away from the threatening creature, mind scrambling for a solution to her situation and unsure if the lizard man had followed her or not. Fortunately though, instead of becoming lost, her sprinting put the girl in sight of an eerie glow radiating from deeper in the forest, white light mixed with dancing flames. Taking a moment to let her heart slow down and her head clear, Mabel then broke the treeline to find a small circle of destroyed earth where goal had landed.

The crater was not nearly as deep as one would expect and the fires of impact were almost extinguished from lack of fuel. Instead of a solid chunk of rock waiting in the earth dent, a mess of organic material was waiting, a single sheet of white, flexible tarp ripped and leaking fluid in some places, which when complete would wrap snugly around a mass of squishy, circular ovals that were stuck together with a similar looking biological fluid. As Mable drew closer, eyes wide in amazement, she was able to spot extremely small, thin squiggles occasionally wiggling around inside the oval eggs.

Mabel was dazzled by the eerie beauty of the site in front of her, fear of the reptilian hunter temporarily forgotten. She turned around to return to her dingy shopping cart, but felt her blood run cold when, as soon as she completed her turn to be able to see the cart, a dark figure dropped from the treeline and perched directly on the front metal bar, wings growing from the back of the human body shape seeming to shift into a voluminous cloak wrapping around the body. Despite being the size of an adult male human, the strange figure did not produce a single sound of movement from the shopping cart by landing on it.

The two stared each other down for a few moments, then the wings of the moth human began to twitch through the air, first slowly then quickly and erratically while the air around the crater swirled into motion, all the while the central body of the creature stayed perfectly still. The soft movements began to create a soft buzzing in the air, and the buzzing gradually gave way to words Mabel could understand, in the air or inside her head she wasn't sure.

"Why are you here?" the Mothman asked her.

Mabel's breath caught in her throat as the question ran to her core. _"I came here to help my brother. I want to win Dipper's trust back. I want to take this egg sac home to my family. I'm being chased by a hungry lizard monster. I hurt my family. My brother doesn't trust me. I have to outdo the Northwest girl. I don't know if my brother even loves me."_ Were all involuntary thoughts the question set off in her mind, but when control of her tongue returned, she stated simply that "I saw a meteor fall and was curious."

Buzzing filled the air again, and a response formed. "Curiosity then? A noble trait. I too have curious motives: I see visions of disaster and death, but never the outcome, so I arrive, curious why this things happen and if they can be changed." It explained, almost whimsically. "Tonight however, is no mission of curiosity, though it does depend of my visions of the future. No, for tonight is a mission of love."

"Love? Are these... are these your eggs?" the Pines asked.

"No, but perhaps they will be, my vision is unclear on the subject." The mothman responded. "These are the spawn of the great Mother Rod who dances across the highest edges of the sky, falling to earth to grow to maturity before joining her. I attempt to protect her spawn in hopes they carry word of my deeds to the sky, and that the Mother Rod may return my love." He stopped for a moment at her growing confusion. "Rods are like flying, silver fish you see, that dwell in the upper atmosphere..."

"Has an egg sac ever returned to the sky?" Mabel asked in blunt curiosity.

The air was still for a moment before the words returned quickly. "No." It admitted. "Though I can foresee the locations the egg sacs fall to, I am blind to the dangers that surround them, and have not yet succeeded on my mission." For the first time, the creature's body moved, its arms stretched and flexed. "Have you come here as an unforeseen disaster, or might you be an unexpected piece of fortune?"

"I came out here to collect this for myself, but I was thinking it was just a big dumb space rock." Mabel explained. "If you need it to impress your sky girlfriend though I'll help you out! I still got my matchmaking touch after all." She continued enthusiastically, then spoke with trepidation. "But, on my way in here I was chased for a little bit by a big scary lizard monster! I can show you a safe way out of the forest if you keep your eyes out for him."

"Agreed." The mothman said simply. "Lead the way, ground dweller."

A short while later, the two of them where retracing Mabel's path to the crater, egg sac loaded carefully into the shopping cart. Despite the mothman perched on the front of the cart like an insectoid gargoyle, Mabel has no additional trouble moving the shopping cart, as both it and the eggs seemed supremely light weight. The unlikely pair were totally silent, senses wide open for the predator lurking in the bush.

Though they'd not predicted the exact moment, the ambush came as expected, a snarling flash of a toothy line bursting from the undergrowth and ripping into the mothman, who protected his delicate looking wings by throwing a first into the oncoming snout. The lizard rebounded, slashing forward with his claws, spraying foul green liquid from the flying insect's abdomen, but in a moment the defender was using his wings to his advantage, floating into the sky to kick the lizard in the eye. Unfortunately, the reptilian hunter responded by clamping down on a leg with his toothy snout, drawing more green fluid, and lashing his neck to slam the mothman into the dirt.

After watching for a few seconds to confirm the mothman had been driven to the ground and was being sliced into, Mabel took off into the woods, cart rattling in front of her as she ran from the fight for her life. Her flight was desperate and panicked, and Mabel very nearly ran the shopping cart into a tree a few times. She was always looking over her shoulders for a pursuer, but came to a screeching halt when, upon looking in front of her, she discovered a yellow pair of lizard eyes had materialized in front of her.

"I'm disappointed in you mammal. Nowhere in our agreement was there supposed to bring a bug freak for me to fight before dinner!" The creature expressed with angered disgust, advancing towards the shopping cart with heavy steps.

"It, I didn't have a choice!" Mabel began to bargain. "That thing was just some hopeless lovesick fool who was trying to impress a girl he had no chance with by some stupid scheme that I wanted no part of, and the girl in question happens to be the mother of these eggs! It was either let you ambush him or try and fight him myself, and I'm just a human, what would I do against something like that!?"

The lizard monster was leaning against the shopping cart. It had a few scratched and busted off scales, as well as swelling around the eye the mothman had kicked him in, but had otherwise come out of the fight looking much better than his enemy did. It contemplated Mabel's words while licking its lips. "Hmm, even if you are lying to me, I suppose it doesn't matter, does it? That thing is dead and the egg sac is all mine. I could still eat you as well, but honestly, I don't want to spoil my appetite. Unless of course, you want to try and stop me for some reason?"

"Noooo, no no no no!" Mabel replied quickly, waving her hands back and forth in front of her chest, palms facing out. "Don't let me stop you from enjoying your dinner big guy! You're free to go!"

"Your permission means so much to me." the lizard hunter said sarcastically, then without further words, snatched the handle of the shopping cart and took off into the forest. Mabel stood in place for a few moments, shivering with fear, then turned to face the mothman emerging from the brush, badly wounded and dripping his green blood all over the place.

"You're just in time! He ran me down and stole the egg sac, but we can still catch him!" Mabel implored to the wounded figure.

"You, you're not surprised I'm still alive?" the mothman asked simply.

"Love can make you incredibly determined." the human girl replied, pulling out some emergency band aids she'd brought for her forest trip and began sticking them on the cryptid, to limited usefulness. "That lizard thing thinks he's got us beat, but we can still track him with the slowly emptying can of glitter I opened and stuck sideways on the bottom plate of the shopping cart!"

"I am... I am in no shape to fight that creature again." The mothman spoke, resignation and despair in his voice. "And so another tragedy comes to pass..."

"Hey, what kind of talk is that!?" Mabel admonished. "You said you were doing this for love, right? Well let me tell you something: Love never gives up, never gives in! Can you imagine how impressed sky lady will be if you get her eggs back from this ravenous beast!?" Then she began to grin. "Besides, I have a plan!"

The glitter trail followed the cart pushing lizard man to the edge of the lake, which he was walking along to reach his cave home. Given the circumstances, the hunter was traveling slower then he could have, taking his time to enjoy the night sky and embracing the pain of hunger that grew inside him, knowing it will soon be satisfied ten fold. This relaxation ultimately cost the cryptid however, as his slow pace not only allowed the pair of pursuers to reach him, but allowed the mothman to glide from the nearby treeline and snatch the lizard into the air by sliding his own arms into the scaly armpits and traveling upwards, wings beating furiously to achieve vertical flight.

Stage 1 complete, Mabel herself came out from behind a tree, gripping her treasured grappling hook in hand. With careful aim, she used the silver glow of the moon to send the metal hook sinking into the leg of lizard man. After giving the line a shriek inducing tug to test that it holds, Mabel severed the rope using a pocket knife and tied the new free end around a heavy stone, which she then picked up and ran for the lake edge with. "DO IT NOW!" she screamed out.

Up above, the mothman had grappled with his adversary while trying to fly sideways to place him over as deep as possible water. When Mabel gave the signal, he released his captive, who plummeted towards the surface, soon to join the rock he was tied to in sinking below the water, as Mabel hurled it in. At the last second however, the lizard man sank his teeth into the mothman's leg, dragging him into the water as well.

Mabel stood tense on the lakeside, watching the patch of bubbles fade, until a moment later, the mothman alone surfaced, flailing his arms about. "My... wings!" The wind chattered, the projected speech getting weak and heavy. "They're too wet for me to fly, and I can't swim!"

"I'll save you!" The human cried out, throwing off her shoes for better swimming. _"The heroine jumps to the water to save the love-struck loner, to ensure his egg quest succeeds!"_ she thought to herself, the idea of finally saving a life and doing a good deed hitting her like warm waves that would sustain her in the cold water.

Then she realized what that would mean: the mothman would take the eggs and guard them until the flying silverfish hatched and mindlessly fly to the sky. He'd fought so hard to protect this find from the lizard hunter, he'd do the same to keep it away from Dipper. Mabel could save a life and remove some of the blood off her hands along with completing a romance quest, but she'd have nothing to give to her brother. She took a long gaze out at the flailing mothman, slowly loosing energy, his damp wings unable to support him.

In a stark moment, Mabel realized she was in a position where she could either make herself happy, or make her twin happy.

As expressionless as his glowing red eyes were, Mabel thought she could she hope and desperation inside the eyes of her makeshift ally, a quiet confidence he'd quickly be saved and his quest would succeed.

With her eyes cast to the dirt, without a further word or fleeting thought, Mabel Pines slipped her shoes back on and began the haul back to the Mystery Shack, as another secret sank to the depths of Gravity Falls' lake.


	11. Multiverse Chase: Chapter 5

The light faded again, and the trio found themselves standing in a dusty tunnel made of well chiseled stone, air stale and incredibly dark due to the lack of any illumination, natural or otherwise. Stanford produced a flashlight from his pocket and shed some light on the situation.

Though Pacifica had informed the Pines members of the psychic entity's attack on this sliver of Bill Cipher, the multiverse scanner was still detecting him, albeit damaged and weak. Everyone had an air of caution to them, knowing they were going to corner a wounded animal.

"This stone work seems borderline medieval..." The older scientist mused while pulling a pocket sized chemical analysis kit as the two younger explorers simply looked about.

"This feels like some kind of hidden passage running through the walls of a dark lord's castle." Dipper spoke up as he and Pacifica stayed close together. "Grunkle Ford, do you think we're on this dimension's earth?"

"No. These stones have been shaped and reinforced using advanced chemistry of alien origin. Someone simply wants this place to look antiquated, probably as a stylistic choice." He announced, analysis complete. "So children, which way shall we go?" he asked, the corridor stretching into darkness both directions.

Without waiting for either of the boys to say a word, Pacifica withdrew a coin from her pocket, flipped it, then pointed to the left. "As good as choice as any..." Dipper remarked, before the three walked off into the darkness. The stone walls stretched on for a difficult to determine amount of time, before finally ending in a flat stone wall, leaving no way forward but backwards.

Dipper however, studied the stone wall intently. "Check for hidden doors?" he asked in a nervous, jokey manner. Grunkle Ford took the suggestion seriously however, and used an electronic multi-tool to scan the area where the wall met the tunnels.

"Good call Dipper, there are electromagnets built into the walls here, the mechanisms of an inconspicuous door. And every door must have a handle..." He muttered, while reaching around in the dark until his hand caught on a lever that when pulled sent the stone wall rolling backwards into the tunnel side, briefly blinding the party of three as light flooded over them.

When the human eyes adjusted, they found the tunnel opening into a futuristic, well stocked hospital room where aliens of various sizes and shaped moved between and laid upon flat cots, tables and shelves stocked with various devices and everyone present wearing all covering, sterile uniforms.

"Oh, great, another contamination vector..." One of the aliens, a long legged fellow with waxy orange skin but otherwise very human looking, spoke. He was some kind of medical doctor, Ford guessed, based on long protective coat, face mask, syringe filled pockets and information displaying electronic tablet. "I mean, good work on finding another passage, always need more storage space, but that is not the ideal place for it to open to."

Quickly taking control of the situation, Stanford replied in a weary but understanding tone. "Yes, they'll probably have to wall this end up completely, we don't need foot traffic routed through here. But, speaking of which, I need to go report this, so excuse us." The mindswimmers the three had effecting their brains did their jobs, and the words were understood.

"Course, course." And with that, the three new arrivals slipped easily through the alien hospital room, not drawing a single second glance from the menagerie present. The three looked about as they made an exit, observing that this was some kind of long term care ward even with the unusual alien bodies about, as the patients lay in a state of faintly recognizable atrophied rest while being fed by tubes and monitored by machines.

When the three humans exited the room, they found themselves in a much more conventional hallway built in the style of an ancient stone castle, this one with windows overlooking the landscape. The younger two rushed over to the view port and gazed along the alien landscape. In contrast to the endless swamp of the last planet they had visited, this place seemed to be in some kind of dry mountain range, as cresting, snowless peaks covered in soft blue plant growth stretched in every direction. The two gasped in wonder, but then frowned as they looked into the valley stretching before their current point.

The valley below them was overrun by a large, dirty and ramshackle looking settlement made of a mixture of spread out tarp or fabric tents and blocky, flimsy looking identical prefabricated structures. Small patches of light and thin smoke columns rose irregularly from the dilapidated settlement.

The two teenagers were quickly called away from the window by Ford, who'd located an interesting feature of the place: a holographic information display being projected over the rough hewn ancient looking stonework.

"Based on this map, I think this place is some kind of converted hospital." The older scientist hypothesized. "The labeling on this map is indicative of specialty wards, chemical storage and examination rooms, but the floor plan is extremely restrictive, better inclined towards defensive fighting then medical logistics."

"That would make sense. If Bill's psychic essence was damaged and he needed a new body as quickly as possible a hospital would give him plenty of desperate people to make a deal with." Dipper thought aloud. "Is this place far enough in the future that Bill might be able to get himself directly repaired with psychic surgery?"

"Possible, but I can't be sure one way or the other yet." Ford answered. "The anachronistic construction makes it difficult to determine the exact technology level we're dealing with. Let's take a further look around, see what we find."

The three humans continued walking through the alien castle, the hospital section of their guessing confirmed by the several aliens they passed, transporting and being transported on stretchers, wheelchairs or more exotic shaped people movers for more exotic shaped lifeforms.

They eventually found themselves rounding a corner to discover a tall, six limbed simian dressed in much less protective clothing then the others they'd passed quickly working to clean up a crate of pill bottles that had fallen from a softly floating cargo cart stacked with similar boxes. Pacifica gestured towards the two boys to let her take the lead, then abruptly put on a furious face and stomped forwards.

"What is going on here!?" she yelled in an outraged tone while approaching mess. The alien worker jolted in panic before beginning to mutter a series of lame excuses in a defensive, frustrated tone. Pacifica cut him off by demanding "Just where do you think you are exactly? Do you think we can afford slip ups like this!?"

"Probably, considering you kept the cost of this big old castle retreat low by shoving all the war refugees into the valley below!" The alien worker snapped back, but instantly regretted his words and began backpedaling. "I mean, um, no, I'm sorry, I understand clean, climate controlled space is at a premium and the amount of supplies and long term patients was much higher then expected when this whole project was set up, but I meant... oh damn it the student volunteer program never said there'd be this much talking..."

Pacifica's expression softened somewhat at the limited explanation of things, and she discreetly interrupted with "Look, I don't really like it either, but that's no excuse for slip up likes this! Just clean it up before anyone else comes by and I'll forget I saw anything."

While the alien worker bequeathed a slew of rushed apologies, Pacifica motioned for the other two to come with her down the halls, away from the situation. Once in the clear, the blond grimaced as if she'd swallowed something. "A little Northwest strategy for motivating the common help." She spat with distaste.

"Hey, I know you didn't mean any of it." Dipper said reassuringly to her, then turned to his great uncle. "That guy mentioned war refugees, do you think this is the same conflict that was touching the previous two places we chased this Bill section to?"

"It's... improbable, but we can't dismiss the possibility." Ford said hesitantly. "The previous two places we visited were in close stellar proximity to each other, but this planet is on the other side of the galaxy from those two. For a war to be fought on such a scale, burning the galaxy from one end to the other... it boggles the mind." he breathed, awestruck and fearful at the concept. "Still, that would be exactly the kind of thing Bill would try to dip his hands into."

The three soon found something out of the usual in the corridors, an advanced looking metal door bolted onto the stonework, currently sitting open on its hinges despite a very clear sign stating this door must be kept closed. Ford poked his head through the gap and grimaced, before stepping through and gesturing for the other two to join him inside. Upon passing the barrier, Dipper and Pacifica knew they were on the right track, because the hospital ward had been transformed into a graveyard.

Well organized lines of hospital beds were filled with alien corpses, and despite the varied physical differences between the species they all shared a withered, shriveled up physique, with some looking as though they would crumble to dust if poked too harshly. Besides the patients, a few hospital staff were scattered around the room, less shriveled and killed in obvious acts of violence.

Ford set to work examining the staff in detail, Dipper checked over the slain patients, and Pacifica began to assess the medical equipment stored in the room.

The younger man of the group pulled a pen light out of his pocket and began examining one of the victims at length. The alien in question had an uncanny similarity to earth house flies, albeit with feet to stand on and hands to operate things with. The body was hard, dry and brittle, badly dehydrated despite a well stocked IV sitting by its bed. Dipper soon found a unusual variable on the body, a fresh, perfectly circular puncture wound on the alien's side, distinguishable from the various injection and IV sites on the body due to its lack of bandaging and large size, as well as the fact that no natural healing had occurred on site, meaning it had been inflicted shortly before death.

Checking the other bodies, the puncture mark repeated itself on all of them, though in different places on different species. Settling on the most mammalian looking of the aliens, Dipper procured an advanced scalpel that had been knocked to the floor in the ruckus earlier and began cutting open the flesh around the insertion, revealing organic tubules similar to human veins, all of them still damp. "Grunkle Ford, I think we're dealing with an arcane vampire organism here. If I had to hypothesize, I'd guess Bill made a deal with someone in this ward for healing, and cast a spell to drink universal lifeforce from all these people. It can't be purely organic hematophagy since a wide variety of species have been drained, some of which had to have been biologically incompatible."

Pacifica was at that moment fiddling with a sealed, untouched drawer on the wall, one of the few containers in the room not thrown open and ransacked. Despite the advanced technology of the location, she quickly figured out it was sealed by what was essentially a baby lock, and disengaged it to find a container of sharp instruments. "Multiverse mystic who knows lots of things, except how to disable a child lock." She snarked while more closely examining an amputation knife.

"Bill must be wounded, mentally and physically." Ford remarked while examining the withered form of a medical worker. "His psychic form is breaking down and he needs to repair his physically decaying body of opportunity using vampire magic. He's in no state to use any of his normal tricks and manipulations, we've got him cornered!"

After taking another look at the perfectly circular puncture wound the drained bodies had suffered, Dipper began examining the IV drip propped up besides the only empty bed in the ward. "We might have a trail." Dipper remarked, but then the sound of sharp, clattering feet on stone began to fill the hear, soft and distant now but steadily growing stronger.

Ford narrowed his eyes and quickly gestured for Dipper and Pacifica to hide behind the cot dividing curtains while he abruptly ripped the lab coat off the medical worker who was the closest to Ford's size and rolled the body underneath a different cot. A moment after he'd completed the disguise, the ajar metal door was thrown all the way open as what was obviously the security staff: a squad of hunched but tall humanoids resembling flies, albeit flies with severely atrophied wings (insufficient muscle mass to propel the body in question) and third set of limbs (which protruded upwards from the shoulders) which were noticeably short, thin and ending in simple spikes instead of hands or clawed feet. The squad's red, bulbous compound eyes swept the room, taking in the carnage with calculated disgust.

Ford snapped at them right away. "Thank the stars you're here! We're in the middle of critical security breakdown, a patient has suffered a critical metastasis of their brain consuming prion disease that has aggravated their aggression centers and unlocked the subconscious limit controls of the skeletal muscle! Do any of you even know what that means!?" He yelled in his most commanding voice possible. When the security insects responded with blank looks and chittering to one another, Ford screamed "That means a super strong lunatic is running free in the hospital! Move out and apprehend him!"

Stanford's commanding tone of voice snapped the guards to attention, and the lead one chittered "Lead the way then! You know where he went!" To Ford, who seemed surprised by the sudden demand but complied after unconsciously casting a look to Dipper and Pacifica's hiding spot. He knew the two could look after each other, and he couldn't pass up an opportunity to surround Bill with a half dozen armed guards.

The teenagers waited until the sound of falling footsteps had faded before daring to breathe, and realized they were huddled quite close to each other in an attempt to stay still. Though both blushed slightly at this, neither felt the need to jump away suddenly, so instead the two simply stepped out from their hiding spot and discussed their options. "We can't let Doctor Pines face Bill alone Dipper, even if he's weakened."

"I agree, those security guards have no ides what they're getting into." Dipper remarked while crossing over to a medicine cabinet. "I have an idea though."

Down the corridor, Ford had taken up a position in the middle of the six insect squad, keeping his eyes out while the leader of the team followed an invisible trail using pathogen detecting goggles he'd slipped on to conduct the chase. The trail of sloughed off diseased flesh and rapidly reproducing bacteria lead to a large outdoor balcony, once able to comfortably fit over a dozen dancing nobles watching the sunrise on this planet but now crammed full of solar panels that collect power for the hospital.

Once they confirmed via wrist mounted hologram maps of the facility that this balcony was a dead end, the guard at the back of the formation pocketed his heat sterilizer, a pen sized projector of heat energy and radiation waves designed to cleanse spaces of microorganisms and maintain hospital cleanliness kept in pocket by most hospital staff, which he'd been using to clean up the worst of the trail, and slung his security rifle off his back, setting it to stun setting.

The security insects, despite Ford's objections, split up and swept through the pathways created by the solar arrays, guns at the ready. The first sign of something wrong was one of the guards screaming in pain as electricity surged through him, having stepped in a recently poured out puddle of water which had been charged with a ripped loose electrical transmission wire from a nearby giant solar panel, electrocuting him with the full power of the sun.

The remaining guards tensed up at the death of one of their own, stepping slowly and switching their weapons to lethal settings. The next attack came from Bill directly, as he directed his puppet to rise up from under a rain tarp protecting a crate of spare parts and ram the blade of a stolen scalpel into the eye of a security guard who had the misfortune to place his back to the demon's hiding place. His screams of agony and panicked firing caught the attention of the rest of his squad, who hosed his general direction with laser fire, shredding apart the solar emplacements in the way and dousing the area with thick smoke from the ensuing electrical fires.

"Stop shooting, stop!" Ford demanded numerous times before the laser fire slowed to a stop as the chemical smoke rolled onto the guards. One of them soon vanished into the smoke, getting out not a single scream but instead a gurgling, wet crunching along wide the sound of a straw sucking the last few drops of liquid out of a cup.

Ford quickly snatched the sidearm and heat sterilizer from the choking guard next to him as the sound of a different guard screaming then falling silent with a wet crunch came from within the smoke, which he back away from, coming to a stop at the railing. The air was silent again, but only for a short moment before another unseen guard let out a long, trailing scream as he was tossed over the railing, plummeting to his death.

"Stay calm soldier." Ford tried to reassure the only security officer left, now shaking in panic and pointing his blaster into the thick smoke. "We're only going to get one shot at him. Make it count."

Unfortunately, when Bill struck, he struck too quickly. A lightning quick tendril struck from the ever closer smoke, a whip of yellow rubber skin snapping onto Ford's hand to send his pocketed blaster over the railing, as it whipped backwards, it turned and stuck fast onto the final security guard's head, and with a sick crunch caused the body to shrivel and crush.

"A proboscis feeder, a perfect body for vampire magic." Ford remarked, attempting to keep his cool while Bill's latest body stepped out of the smoke. The striking tendril was revealed to grow out of the alien's mouth-less face, showing the circular opening on the end to be lined with fresh, jagged, blood stained new teeth jutting from ripped membranes. The alien body itself was humanoid, though its torso and head seemed to mold together with no neck to separate them. The arms were long and thin while the legs thick and stocky. Its skin was yellow and rubber like in consistency, with bandages and wrappings in various places, on top of the standard hospital gown.

"So, you're finally inside a body appropriate to you, a blood sucking parasite!" Ford declared, refusing to show fear to the monster who'd terrorized his family for so long. "You're going to die out here Bill, die a broken fragment of your true self hiding in a diseased body!" Hoping his taunts were distracting Bill, Ford switched on the heat sterilizer he'd stolen, the only weapon in hand.

Bill's new body let out a wet hiss through its proboscis feeder before whipping the lamprey mouth into action towards Ford's exposed neck, but he'd prepared for the action and jammed the hot end of the sterilizer into the path of the blood drinking appendage, causing the alien to hiss and wrench back, clumsily reducing the precision blood drain into a hard slap.

With Stanford dazed as a result of the attack, Bill pushed his body forward, not caring that his stinging, blood drinking proboscis was dragging across the stone ground and shoved him over the railing, gurgling incoherent threats of death the entire time.

"GRUNKLE FORD!" Bill heard, causing him to spin around around and miss his hated enemy splattering to bits across the distant rocks, to see Dipper and Pacifica had just burst onto the balcony in time to watch their mentor go plummeting to his death. Both looked horrified and despair stricken, though Pacifica adopted a look of anger the moment Bill took another step, and she hurled a pilfered scalpel into his shoulder.

Despite the blade sinking into his stolen flesh, Bill's new body quivered with mirth as he advanced on his two remaining enemies, proboscis quivering back into position as feeling returned to the feeder limb. Dipper to had gained an expression of anger and vengeance at this point, stepping in front of Pacifica and shielding her with his body as he walked toward's Bill, a furious expression peaking out from under his hat.

Bill stared down the most persistent thorn in his side he'd encountered in millennia, carefully examining the soft places of the body where blood vessels were close to the surface, savoring the thought of draining his form to a lifeless husk with sunken yellow eyes.

After what felt like an eternity, Dipper snapped his right into a vest pocket and pulled loose a surgical knife, bending his arm back as far as possible to try and hurl it at Bill. The puppet body however had repaired itself sufficiently to spring into action, and its thirsty lamprey mouth twitched with the speed of a practiced gunslinger, burying into Dipper's now exposed armpit.

Bill felt the freshly grown, unnatural teeth in his trunk cut through cloth, then skin, then dove into liquid, and began to drink.

On the underside of this balcony, Stanford Pines meanwhile was not as dead as Bill had hoped. Keeping cool and thinking quickly even when faced with a messy death, the experienced scientist quickly removed his stolen labcoat mid fall. The coat had five buttons on it, so he did up the bottom and top two, along with folding closed the sleeves, head and bottom opening, creating a pocket of air inside the cloth.

Then, he stuck the heat sterilizer into the only open gap of the think, switching it to the highest possible setting to rapidly heat the air pocket trapped inside. Though a crude construct at best, this end result was a rudimentary hot air ballon, which significantly slowed Ford's descent, as well as enabling a small amount of control over his flight path.

Now with a slow, steady but decaying method of flight, Ford turned his path towards the mountain hospital, looking for somewhere safe to land. The first opportunity to present itself was a stained glass window built into a stone facet of the mountain, and while Ford didn't love the idea of slamming through a glass depiction of what was probably a religious icon, he didn't want to risk not getting another chance. Once he was close enough, Ford jumped from the improvised balloon and latched on the window ledge. After finding purchase to place his feet onto, the old man reached inside his original coat and withdrew a handy multi-tool he keeps on him in order to be prepared.

"Please don't be a genuine historical artifact!" Ford begged quietly before throwing the tool through the window, shattering the glass an enabling him to climb through, albeit with a few nicks.

The room he found himself in was still recognizable as a hospital ward, but a strange one. The room was noticeably cold, and the only light in the place was a soft blue hue being projected by the lighting of the room, but disrupted by the now open hole in the wall. Ford would normally have taken quite a lot of time examining the room, but right now his wards were in danger and he had to get back to them. The only thing to slow him down was when weak throated yelling began coming from behind a square of privacy curtains, convincing Ford to briefly investigate to ensure he wasn't in danger.

Behind the curtain was a hospital bed where a strange alien was at rest. All that was visible of it was its head poking out from beneath the covers, a smooth sphere of dark gray stretch flesh, with large flat ears, bulging pure white eyes and a very small, toothy mouth. "Heeeeeelp, they returrrrrn..." It groaned, too weak to make further noise despite the fear it was clearly feeling. Ford felt a moment of pity for the hospital patient, but quickly left it behind to help Dipper and Pacifica.

"The invaders from the bright return to break the ceiling of the world and consume us with their viruses! Help us!" The alien moaned deliriously in an increasingly loud and panicked room as Ford burst through the door out and began rushing ahead in search of a map.

Dipper grimaced and groaned in pain, throwing his head back while Pacifica looked away, unable to bear the sight. Bill was ecstatic and the precious fluids flowed down his proboscis in pumps, draining his enemy with every squeeze of the snout's muscle. Then, the first sweet drop hit the alien axial body.

Instantly, Bill knew something was wrong. The liquid wasn't exploding into his body with a burst of life and the gentle stinging of the meat sack repairing itself, in fact it burned on contact and sent his chest cavity reeling when it hit the bottom of the stomach like a rock. The mind demon knew for sure he'd been tricked when his snout stopped pumping automatically due to the liquid depleting, having drunk nowhere near the amount of liquid a human body contained. Bill ripped the scalpel Pacifica had thrown into his flesh free and and attempted to advance on the two, but found his legs growing weak and uncoordinated, stumbling and eventually falling.

As soon as the puppet body had collapsed to its knees, Pacifica and Dipper's heads snapped back into view, both of them now grinning widely. "I knew you'd never be able to resist draining my life force Bill, even if it'd have been easier to just shoot me with a stolen security blaster," Dipper explained, reaching under his armpit and pulling out a now empty IV bag with a perfectly circular hole in it. "So me and Pacifica stuffed IV bags filled with random drugs over all our vital blood points for when you'd attack. I might not know anything about your new alien body or what any of these medicines are actually made of, but I see I was correct in assuming overdosing is still a hazard of medicine, especially when dealing with a wide range of radically different alien biologies!"

"You sadism is your undoing." Pacifica remarked with satisfaction while removing her own IV bags of drugs from underneath her clothes. By now, Bill had collapsed, shivering onto the floor and spitting up spurts of biological fluid out his trunk, which lay limp against the stone. Dipper advanced quickly but cautiously, readying a sleek white and boxy MK 3 Memory Gun, pre-programmed to seek and destroy all traces of Bill Cipher inside a psychic network. With a steady aim and a pull of the trigger, another fragment of Bill Cipher was erased from existence.

Dipper watched with pity as the demonic malice left the eyes of the alien hospital patient, replaced by rapidly dimming pain and confusion as the original mind regained his body and felt his wounds and internal injuries open back up as the ancient vampire magic that sustained him was burned out of his body, alongside the dream demon that gave it to him, on top of the incompatible drugs he'd been tricked into drinking. The boy from earth offered him a compassionate look and a soft, but sincere apology for being in the wrong place at the wrong time as the alien slowly died, then closed his eyes when the life had faded entirely.

After a quiet moment, Pacifica walked up to Dipper and took his hand, a downcast look on her face suddenly. "Dipper, what happened to Doctor Pines... what happened to Ford back there, I hope you don't blame yourself because it..." Her attempts to be comforting were suddenly cut off when Dipper held up one finger, gesturing for silence as he held up and activated the personal communicators they all had.

"Kids, are you alright!?" Came the older man's voice after a few moments of static, causing smiles to break out on both faces; Pacifica's a sudden outburst of relief that her fears had been dashed, and Dipper the soft smile of being proven correct.

"We're all clear on this end Grunkle Ford, mission accomplished. Bill has been eliminated." he reported with a smile and a proud tone of voice.

"Marvelous, well done, excellent work you two!" Ford praised over the radio. "I apologize if I gave you a scare when I fell over that railing, but I had full confidence in your ability to continue the fight!"

"Don't worry about it Grunkle Ford, I knew from the beginning it'd take more than a little push to kill someone as clever as you!" Dipper responded in a voice that was perfectly praising into the radio, but with a look on his face that was quietly teasing Pacifica for assuming his mentor's death so quickly.

"You can tell me all about how you finished the mission back on earth. For the moment, I think we should hit our fast return switches before security comes investigating. Grunkle Ford, over and out!" He finished speaking before the radio went silent. Dipper smiled a little at his signing off note, as while Stanford had taken to being called "Grunkle Ford" quite quickly, it had only been fairly late into Dipper's apprenticeship that he used the nickname to refer to himself.

Dipper fished around in his pockets and pulled out one of the several quantum entanglement devices he had packed that would transmit between dimensions to the new and improved portal device, activating it remotely and locking on to their coordinates. When he saw Pacifica had hers at the ready, the two smiled at one another and threw the switches, feeling the light overtake them as their bodies were jettisoned across a multiverse that was now just a little bit safer.


	12. Down To Earth: Chapter 1

The three dimensional travelers stepped back into the familiar laboratory basement of the Mystery Shack, small smiles on all their faces despite the weariness to their steps. Once the portal was completely shut down, Dipper was the first to speak. "So, did we do it Grunkle Ford? Is one more piece of Bill gone forever?"

Stanford Pines was quiet for a long moment, carefully and attentively operating the dimension device's scanning function. Finally, he switched it off and smiled broadly at the two teenagers. "Yes. Thanks to you two, the multiverse has one less shred of Bill Cipher in it." he said warmly.

Dipper and Pacifica both smiled with relief at this, Dipper in particular beaming with happiness at the praise from his mentor, though he was somewhat flustered by being given so much credit. "Hey, we couldn't have done it without you too!"

The older scientist dismissed this remark with a wave of the hand though. "You two would have found a way to prevail, even without my help. I'm so proud of you."

"So what happens now?" Pacifica asked. "There's more of Bill out there, right? Are we going back out after him?"

A crease appeared on Ford's forehead as the reality of the situation was brought back up, and he began working the scanner controls. "Well, not right away, but you are correct that we must continue our war against Bill until all of reality is safe from him. It will, however, take some time for the scanner to locate the next Bill fragment, and from what I found inside Mabel's head before I cleared her, nine such fragments exist, and at the moment we've destroyed three and know the fourth is trapped in a dead skeleton buried in the desert of Arizona." He explained. "So, until we get a solid location, we all have a little downtime."

As good news as that was, Dipper's expression fell and he let out a worried sigh at the mention of his sister. "Mabel, right..." He breathed, knowing he can't avoid the difficult conversation any longer. "I... I need to go sort things out with Mabel. If you'll excuse me..." He said before making his way towards the elevator, leaving Pacifica and Ford alone.

Not wanting to walk out right behind Dipper when he clearly wanted to confront his sister alone, Pacifica was left standing kind of awkwardly in the room with the older Pines, neither really sure what to say. While the blond girl did greatly respect the seasoned scientist, both for his genius and for how immensely happy Dipper was be his apprentice, most of her conversations with him tended to be through Dipper.

"So, Doctor Pines..." she began to ask, only for the old scientist to hold up a hand.

"You can call me Ford if you'd like. You're a close enough friend of Dipper's that I don't mind." He interrupted.

"It's alright, I was raised to be very formal, and it's probably the least bad thing about my childhood." She dismissed before continuing her question. "So, once we defeat Bill once and for all, what's going to happen next? I mean as much as me and Dipper talk about the things you and him discover and how they could be applied, I don't know if we've ever talked about how, well, we're going to get things out there. Like, do you guys plan to publish your research, start making products, how's it going to happen? I mean what science publications would even accept papers about gnomes and size shifting crystals anyway? How could we get any of the medicines you guys have invented through the FDA when several of their ingredients aren't acknowledged as existing?"

Ford's eyes seemed distant for a moment as he thought to himself, but in the end he smiled before speaking. "Well, we have talked a lot about how we're going to present our findings to the world, but I can see we've been doing a disservice by not including you in the discussions, you clearly have some insight into the matters of business and publication." He praised, before letting out a bit of a sigh. "Well, for the time being we've been getting by much how I did when I worked alone, patenting and publishing only the inventions which are grounded in accepted scientific fact, with the more arcane parts of their invention... edited out. It's not scientifically ethical by any means, but it's a necessary ethics violation."

Ford was quiet for a moment, turning to look at the portal device, the culmination of his life's work, a gamut of emotions running across his face that eventually settled on satisfaction. "As for how we'll put the more arcane aspects of what we've discovered into public acceptance, I'll admit we don't have a solid plan yet, aside from generally starting with the stuff that at least has fringe acceptance before working our way up, but no matter what we're doing we're waiting until Dipper's eighteen."

Pacifica seemed a little surprised by that last fact. "Dipper never really mentioned anything like that, why?"

"Well, I wanted it to be a surprise for him, so maybe I shouldn't have said anything, but you can keep a secret, right Pacifica?" Ford remarked before continuing before she answered. "I want to wait until Dipper's a legal adult before we begin really publishing in earnest because I want him to get all the credit he deserves for the work he's done alongside me, and by being a legal adult he'll be able to be the full controller of any patents we put out."

"You're giving him the patents?" Pacifica asked, genuine shock and surprise on her face. Intellectually, she had long since learned and internalized this kind of generosity as being possible in people, but it still surprised her when it actually happened.

Ford simply nodded. "I'm old Pacifica, it doesn't matter how many phoenix feather tonics me and Stanley take." He remarked with smiling weariness. "As much as neither of us like to think about it, Dipper is going to spend the majority of his scientific career without me. I want him to have full control of any patents we make, legally free and clear, so that he'll always have a foundation to pursue his goals from."

Pacifica looked at the elderly man with a look of pride. "That's so generous of you Doctor Pines. I won't be able to access my father's remaining assets until I'm 18 myself, but I know for a fact when it gets out my parents have died distant Northwests are going to be coming out of the woodwork, plying me with false smiles to try and get it for themselves." She said, while growing a frown. "It's only two years though, so I guess I can last until then..."

"We could fake your death." Ford said without hesitation, in a blunt but helpful tone. "Make it look like died with them, then make a miraculous return at 18 or 19 years old to collect the fortune!" he explained, well meaning but deeply insensitive.

"I'll... uh, think about it."

* * *

Upstairs, Dipper found Mabel in short order, as the girl was simply relaxing on a living room chair, relaxing after a work out. "DIPPER, YOU'RE HOME!" She yelled in excitement, jumping up and giving him a hug of relief that he'd not been lost between dimensions. Dipper, despite the troubles with his sister that weighed on his mind, happily hugged her back.

"Okay, Dipper, don't say anything, I got a homecoming gift for you and everything!" Mabel said as she disengaged the hug, before running to another room and coming back with the shopping cart full of eggs. "TA-DA! Eggs from the sky! I thought it was a meteor at first but turns out to be freaky sky eggs!"

Dipper was a little taken aback at the egg cluster, but none the less stepped forward and examined them. "Mabel, do you have any idea what these are?"

"They're freaky eggs from the sky, right? Originally I wanted to bring you back a fallen space rock since you emailed me a big thing about them before, but once I saw it was this figured, might as well not come back empty handed!" She explained with face paced, slightly nervous speech.

"Mabel these are Rod eggs, strange atmosphere dwelling cryptids that have defied all of Grunkle Ford's attempts to study them!" He explained excitedly. "We've found lone eggs falling and caught the occasional specimen, but never enough to make a sustainable domestic population. We have this idea to cross bread them with the mindswimmers to hopefully create free flying, atmosphere dwelling school fish that spread psychic understanding to everyone below them, creating pockets free of language divisions! This is great!"

Dipper did not know the emotional storm that was raging inside his sister, though if he were feeling it himself he would find it familiar. The drowning of the mothman who guarded these eggs still weighed heavily on her, another dark blot on her soul she added at a time when she was hoping to clean her soul of deathly guilt. Every moment she looked at the eggs reminded her of his red eyes sinking under the water.

But seeing Dipper so happy, so overjoyed at having a missing component of his dream handed to him... it vitalized her! Her brother's smile, such a rare thing when they were children, illuminated her whole being even if couldn't undo the price she'd paid. _"So, this is why Dipper hurts himself for my benefit."_ She thought soberingly. Her own emotional pain was still there, gnawing at her, but the joy Dipper was clearly feeling flowed into her, the happiness she felt for his sake stronger then any joy derived from satisfying her own wants. With a guilty pit forming in her stomach, Mabel realized this was an extremely new sensation for her.

Soon however, the boy's face fell and he ceased his excited chattering, becoming tongue tied as he tried to speak. "No, wait, Mabel, we need to talk about this! I mean, no, I'm not saying you tried to bribe me with this, and I'm sorry I had to take off to fight Bill before we sorted this out, but we can't leave this hanging in the air!" Dipper babbled, trying to get all the anxiety, questions and disappointment out. Then, he simply swallowed, composed himself, and asked "Why'd you do it?"

"I... I didn't know it was Bill at the time Dipper, and I just figured, a little more time to..." Mabel began nervously before her brother cut her off.

"No, that's not what I'm talking about! Sure that was a stupid mistake but we've all made those! Why did you lie to us for so long!?" He demanded, frustration leaking into his tone of voice. "In that wretched bubble, while we were planning in the Shack, at the party afterwards, the YEARS of normal life afterwards! You had all the time in the world to come clean to us!"

Mabel was nervous now, shrinking in place and trying to force an air of casualness to her words. "There was, well, just never a good time I felt." She responded steadily. "Before the big fight I was worried the truth would mess the team spirit up, during the party I didn't want to risk killing the mood, and the years after, it just seemed so... unimportant, by that point? It wouldn't have helped anyone to bring it up, so I figured unless you guys asked..."

"Is that true?" Dipper asked pointedly. "If we'd really just asked out of the blue if you gave the Rift to Bill Cipher, were you really going to turn around on years of lying?" When Mabel didn't answer, he continued. "What would have happened if Bill hadn't been bafflingly stupid and told us the truth instead, at a critical moment!? If you'd gotten things cleared up first, that wouldn't have been a threat!"

"Who cares though!?" Mabel burst out, speaking with desperate anger. "You're always going on about what could happen or what was possible, but it didn't happen! Everything worked out fine! Why did I need to tell the truth so badly when it just leads to us shouting at each other!?"

"Because of closure dammit!" Dipper burst out in anger, surprising himself when Mabel flinched at this, taking a moment to breath and steady himself in a still angry but composed manner. "People deserve to know why things happen, especially things like a demon bursting into the world and creating a living hell!"

"You're one to talk!" Mabel shot back, becoming somewhat aggressive as the argument grew in earnest. "The whole reason any of this happened is because you and Ford didn't just tell me about the Rift and what it could do!"

"Don't even bother going there." Dipper replied dismissively. "Even if you didn't know what that was, you had no right to steal it. Besides, we didn't tell you about the Rift because you clearly can't be depended on to sacrifice for the greater good, since you'd already risked destroying the universe once already!"

"I did that because I trusted Grunkle Stan!" She yelled back, getting defensive at the involvement of their great uncle in the argument.

"More then you trusted me!?" Dipper yelled out, long buried hurt exploding into his words. It was like a dam had broken, and a torrent of bottled up emotional hurt and sadness spilled out, extinguishing any angry fire Dipper had. "You trusted a creepy old criminal who was going to destroy the world over your twin brother! How could do that!?" He demanded to know, tears getting into the boy's eyes as the long buried feelings kept rushing out. "It gave us Ford back so I felt like I didn't have the right to complain but that HURT Mabel! Every time I put my trust in you about anything you use it to hurt me! When I liked Wendy, when I was trying to get over Wendy, when you replaced me with that... THING inside the bubble!"

Mabel felt like she was shrinking in place as Dipper let it all come out, frozen in place and unable to respond. She wished on some level that he'd kept just yelling at her in anger, but at this point her brother just seemed to be pouring out sadness, and she couldn't bring out an argument against that. By now, Dipper had stopped talking and collapsed into the closest chair, looking like he'd just run a marathon with onions under his eyes. After spending a moment to compose himself and wipe his tears off on his sleeve, Dipper picked up again, speaking now with a more controlled release of his feelings.

"That's how I decided I was going to stay here." He muttered, half informing Mabel of this and half realizing it for himself. "It's been there all my life and even when you slapped me in the face with a 'more supportive version' of myself that has nothing in common with me that I realized it but instantly went into denying it. You've never appreciated me for who I am, and the moment I stopped catering to your every whim you were ready to throw me away like trash. So, I figured if you thought so little of me, you'd be fine on your own."

Choking up now, the other twin needed a minute to put herself together, ugly silence reigning between them, Dipper slumped in a chair feeling defeated despite the cathartic liberation of long buried emotions he'd just undergone, while his sister stood up straight, looking at the floor and stewed in misery, trying to make sense of and justify her own behavior, even to herself. "Dipper, I, you... I realize I haven't been kind about it, but it's not that I don't love you for who you are, I just want my brother to be happy!" Mabel replied, tears beginning to form and a creaky, uncertain tone to her voice. "You could lay alone in bed, completely away from anything or anyone that could possibly trouble you, and think yourself into a fit over nothing! I just wanted my brother to be happy, and the number one person who always made you unhappy was you!"

Dipper kept his head hung low for a moment, as if he wanted to bite his tongue, but felt the urge to argue back swelling inside him. "That was never your decision to make Mabel. I've always been supportive of you being you no matter how stupid you are, but you could never just let me be me. If you really wanted me to be happy, you would have let me pursue my dreams instead of doing everything in your power to hold me back." He stated, anger creeping back into his tone, but it was subdued, cold anger now. "That's the real reason you lied for so long, isn't it? You always wanted, always hoped I'd give up my dreams and go back to being miserable in normalcy alongside you, and you thought telling the truth would destroy that chance forever."

"Miserable? Dipper, what about the life you left behind!? What about growing up, making friends, our high school years, OUR PARENTS!? How were you able to just leave them behind without a second thought?" Mabel replied. "What kind of life are you living up here, in danger every day and growing old in a dark, underground laboratory?"

"Life back in Piedmont was terrible Mabel." Dipper replied bluntly. "If I'd gone back with you that first summer, I'd have abandoned the real friends I made here in Gravity Falls, and I'm honestly surprised our parents even know I'm gone." His last line drew a confused but hurt expression out of Mabel, so he elaborated. "Mom and dad always loved you more. They'd always give you whatever you wanted but never showed any support for any of my interests or desires. As far as I'm concerned, our great uncles are my parents."

Mabel seemed to deflate now, the fire going out on her arguing, and she now seemed resigned and exhausted, in a similar state to her twin. "So, is that it then? Your old life with me was terrible and you just want to cut ties entirely? If you want to do that, I'll get the novelty giant scissors." she remarked bitterly.

Dipper frowned a little, and seemed a little regretful with the next words he spoke. "I mean, there were some good times back then, the two of us, but these last three years I've spent in Gravity Falls have been the happiest times of my life. I always hoped you could have a place here someday and make things perfect, but now that I'm being honest with myself... If I have to choose between making you happy and making myself happy... I'm going to choose to make myself happy. I've done enough of the former."

Silence filled the air, as neither twin had anymore words to say or the energy to say them with. After almost a full minute of standing quietly and being unable to look at one another, Mabel broke the silence, muttering "Well, I can't blame you for that..." in a broken tone before shuffling out of the room, head hanging low.

With the argument over, Dipper sunk even deeper into the chair, emotionally exhausted and saddened over the massive argument he just had with his twin, but at the same time feeling lighter in the chest, having gotten some painful thoughts and ideas he'd not fully wanted to even acknowledge out in the open.


	13. Down To Earth: Chapter 2

When Pacifica found Dipper after waiting what she had hoped was an appropriate amount of time down in the laboratory for him to talk to his sister, he was sinking into a living room chair while deep in thought, eyes listlessly wandering over the general TV region even though nothing was on. "So... I'm guessing it didn't go great?" Pacifica asked with uncertainty, really not trying to make Dipper feel worse.

The young scientist let out a sigh, roused from his deep thought, as he turned his head to reply. "It's... I don't know how it went. I mean on one hand I do feel like I got some stuff off my chest and I feel like, I guess misconceptions I had about my sister are cleared up, but otherwise? It hurts. It hurts a lot to know my own twin would hide things like that from me just to make herself happy, because she couldn't be happy for me! I mean, like Grunkle Ford always says, knowing is better then not knowing, but it's still painful." Then, after spilling hit guts, Dipper's expression changed to shocked and he facepalmed. "Why am I sitting her complaining about my problems with my sister to you!? Pacifica, your parents are dead, you shouldn't have to listen to me..."

In a moment, Pacifica closed the distance between her and Dipper and got him to stop talking by putting two of her fingers on his lips. She looked up at him, a grateful expression on her face, then looked away with a heavy brow. "Hey, don't beat yourself up over that. I know it's probably because I'm still a bad person, but, well, you seem more broken up about my parents then I am." She confessed, self-doubt coursing through her. "I mean, I know that's a terrible thing for someone who lost their parents to say, but sometimes when I see how you interact with Doctor Pines and Stanley, I feel like I never had parents in comparison."

Dipper looked severely uncomfortable at this response, at a loss for a way to respond, but eventually settled on something he knew was true. "You're not a bad person Pacifica." He said with sincerity, and the two were quiet for a moment, not sure what to say next.

Eager to break the silence, the girl spoke up after a few second of silence. "Look, you wanna like, go do something fun?" She suggested, a small tone of insecurity leaking through. "Doctor Pines told us to relax while we can before we're back through the portal, so let's go relax. My treat."

Dipper was conflicted for a moment, then let out a small smile. "You know what, you have a point. Let's go do something fun."

* * *

Across town, Mabel was attempting that very thing, and having minimal success. Shortly after her argument with Dipper, the returning girl had gone out to meet her two old friends Grenda and Candy, having planned to reunite soon after returning to town, but that meeting was delayed by the zombie attack and ensuing emotional pain. Now though, the girl from California could think of no one else she wanted to turn to more.

The three were sitting at a booth in some restaurant in town, the two Gravity Falls natives on one side, Mabel on the other, and a whole bunch of empty milkshakes dividing them. Rather then go on as massive sugar rush as her friends remembered her to do, Mabel was simply sucking down her drinks with a morose expression and downcast demeanor.

"...and on top of everything else, Pacifica's really obviously putting the moves on Dipper and doesn't like me." She finished explaining to her two friends, who sported concerned looks, as they turned to each other for a moment.

"You... didn't know about Dipper and Pacifica?" Candy asked with concern. "We actually thought they were dating for the last two years, with how often they're hanging out and being all touchy with each other. I figured you'd set them up remotely." Mabel just slammed her face into the table at this.

"You have been messaging Dipper, right?" Grenda asked abruptly with her consistently husky voice. "I mean if you message him as much as you message us, Dipper's got no excuse for getting all weird and emotionally distant on you! Just look at me and my Austrian future husband, long distance relationships can work!" which drew approving nods from Candy.

Mabel looked up in response, a slight frown on her face. "Looks, girls, it's really not Dipper's fault here. Sure we kept in touch but there was always gonna be some emotional distance there, especially since I don't really understand any of what he and Grunkle Ford are actually doing out here." Mabel defended, having not disclosed the origin of Weirdmageddon to her friends. _"I'm sorry girls, but I can't lose anyone else at this point."_ she thought to herself.

"Then you have to connect to his interests girlfriend! Understand what he's doing out here!" Grenda replied while slamming both her fists on the table.

"Pacifica is always helping him operate his machines, here and out in the woods. If they bonded over that, surely you can get back in Dipper's good graces in no time with a mystery solved or two!" Candy added, and in response a small smile grew on the Pine twin's face.

"Okay girls, let's go solve a mystery." Mabel declared with determination, then frowned slightly. "Does anyone have any mysteries they currently need solving?"

"Can you solve the mystery of why my parents are always yelling at each other?" Candy asked abruptly with a hopeful tone, instantly making the air between the three awkward. Luckily, Grenda spoke up in short order.

"Things have actually been a lot less weird ever since reality was strangled with its own intestines then quickly put back together." She remarked. "Gravity Falls has been a borderline normal town these last few years."

Mabel's newfound guilt clawed at her once again. "Yeah... Dipper explained that Bill, well, wiped out a lot of the monsters that lived in the woods when he took over." However, she pushed this feeling down and acquired a cheery tone for his next declaration. "But hey, that just means everyone who is still alive probably has some kind of problem we can help solve! In fact, I know just where we need to go!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Dipper and Pacifica had ventured through the woods to the Meridian Fields, circular clearings in the forest resulting from Bill raining blue fire down across the landscape during his reign of terror. Though hearty grass had managed to grow back in the intervening years, the tall trees that once made this place a forest were long gone, and would likely not grow back for generations.

It was quiet here, an eerie and wonderful sort of quiet that Dipper enjoyed greatly. When challenged to "do something fun" he'd decided he'd let Pacifica in on this quiet little place he'd retreat to sometimes, having brought a small amount of food for a little picnic before they'd hike back to town. Now that they were out there though, he was little embarrassed at his choice of destination.

"Well, uh, here we are..." He tried to introduce awkwardly, sweeping his arm limply in gesture to the surroundings. "This is where I come sometimes to, you know, relax, hang out, do a little reading." He perked up for a moment while adding "Oh, and check on the bugs! Me and Grunkle Ford have been slowly introducing ant colonies and ladybug populations to the place, in hopes it will help the... environment recover... uh, quicker." He trailed off, finally pulling his hat over his face. "This was a terrible idea, wasn't it? What would someone as sociable as you possibly find fun about this place?"

Pacifica, in response, put her hand on Dipper's chin to make him look at her, while she gave him a reassuring but teasing smile. "Maybe you don't know me as well as you think you do, Pines." She replied, before walking away a little bit to take in her surroundings. "I can certainly navigate a crowd better then you can, but truth be told I don't think I enjoy it anymore then you do. Parties, crowds, even one on one conversations... I was always taught, always trained, to go into them being whoever the other people wanted me to be, to give me the upper hand in mingling, or negotiating, or whatever it was about. Never to be myself. So, there was always something a little refreshing about quiet places, where no one else was around, where I could feel like myself..." She went silent for almost a minute, then turned back to Dipper. "It's very quiet here. Thank you for showing it to me."

"Hey, don't mention it." Dipper replied, a little flustered at Pacifica's warm response. After taking a little longer to sit in the stillness of the meadow, the two sat down the blanket Dipper had brought and quietly began to eat sandwiches.

With a mouth full of food, Pacifica was looking towards Dipper's face, trying to work out her feelings. _"This... this feels big."_ She thought to herself with concern. _"Someone as introverted as Dipper showing me somewhere so quiet and secret... Or that could be wishful thinking. He probably just wanted to talk about that insect project he and Doctor Pines are doing. He's not into you like that."_

The blond girl swallowed her current bite of food while twiddling with her hair, trying not to let Dipper look at her face. _"Love is just a psychological tool people use to get something for nothing. Only gullible idiots like Mabel actually believe in things like that and Dipper deserves better then to be manipulated like that. It's better we just stay friends... right?"_

Dipper meanwhile had been eating his sandwich in quiet contemplation, content to let his mind across the silent meadow. The boy enjoyed rare times where he could simply get away from it all. At times like this, he could feel the knot that interacting with people built in his stomach unwind.

 _"Well, interacting with most people."_ Dipper thought to himself, owing credit to the small circle of people he felt completely comfortable around: Great Uncle Ford, whose guidance he treasured every second of, Wendy Courdy, who had become a firm and steady friend with the complete passing of Dipper's affection for her, Grunkle Stan, whose hardened facade of lies had slowly come down over the first summer to reveal someone Dipper could trust implicitly, and...

 _"Pacifica!?"_ Dipper thought to himself in sudden confusion. He'd expected to wandering mind to have saved his beloved twin sister Mabel as the last but not least entry on his list of people he felt comfortable around, but to his own surprise his thoughts drifted to the blond girl besides him.

 _"I feel comfortable around Mabel... don't I?"_ Dipper thought to himself, a crease growing on his eyebrows as he pondered the question. However, the look through his memories was filtered through the recent pain and betrayal he'd felt from his sister, and he was troubled by how few actual reasons he was finding to put trust in his twin.

 _"I mean, would I have brought her here?"_ He thought to himself involuntarily even though he knew the answer was no. _"She wouldn't appreciate somewhere like this... Just like she doesn't appreciate the opportunity I had to take or the things I did for her."_

Surprised at how cold a turn his own thoughts had taken, Dipper turned to look at Pacifica in an attempt to focus on anything around him. He brought his eyes to her just as she was fiddling with her hair, and abruptly caused Dipper's heart to skip a beat.

 _"She's really cute."_ Dipper thought to himself, before abruptly trying to crush that thought and remain composed. _"Don't go there Dipper. If you start feeling this way about her, things will get weird, you'll get all sweaty, make a huge mistake, and ruin things with a really good friend who shares a lot of your interests. Don't get aggressive, just stay friends..."_

The two were now both trying to look at anything but each other, carefully sliding their hands away from the other's on the blanket for fear of accidentally intertwining their fingers. They simply sat next to each other, trying to stay focused on their sandwiches.

* * *

While all that was going on, Mabel had led her friends to the forest lair of the Manotaurs, confident that her monster friends would be aware of something worth looking into. "They're actually really nice once they open up about their feelings." Mabel explained while standing at the entrance to their home, waiting for someone to greet them. When no one came after several minutes however, the three girls frowned with concern and tentatively stepped inside.

"Uhhh, guys? It's me, Mabel! Remember, we met during the end of the world, knitted sweaters, drove a big robot? Anyone home?" She called out while walking about the man cave. It was mess inside, but more importantly, it was empty and silent. "Well, I suppose we found our mystery."

"And I found a clue!" Grenda yelled out, having been the first to spot a large hole in the wall of the cavern, a massive gap blasted to the floor with tracks indicating a great deal of foot traffic went through it.

Mabel went up to the gap and ran her fingers over the smelted edge of the rock. "Feels like... magic. Hot magic." She concluded with a serious look on her face. The three girls proceeded to follow the trail of devastation into the woods, a wide dragging path of uprooted soil and trampled, ripped up undergrowth.

The trail wove a winding path deeper into the forest, though Mabel remained confident she could follow the obvious path backwards to avoid getting lost. The path gradually led to the heart of the forest, where the group of girls made a strange discovery: A wrought iron building assembled in the middle of the forest, the kind of old timey mine looking building Mabel had imagined Old Man McGucket lived in prior to discovering the heartbreaking truth about him.

The rough trail led directly to a large, vertical shudder door closing one side of the building, that proved to be locked when Grenda attempted to throw it open. With that avenue closed, the three instead walked through the a more normal though short regular door on the other side of the building wall.

Through the door was a surprisingly grungy looking small waiting room, with bolted down chairs against the wall and a limply panning fan plugged in nearby. The reception desk against the far wall was staffed by what looked like a very tall human in a trench coat and wide brimmed hat.

"Hello, and welcome to the Freemana Crystal Exchange. Please draw a number and take a..." The employee began speaking in a bored tone, not looking up from his magazine, but as soon as his eyes flitted over the newcomers his tone of voice abruptly became more active and panicked. "Actually, uh, look at the time, turns out we're closed! Please come back at between the hours of..."

The act ended when Mabel, having grown tall enough to reach over the counter during her few years away from town, simply walked up and pushed the tall figure over, resulting in half a dozen gnomes toppling down from their improvised costume. "So, still using the zombie teenager disguise to prey on little girls?" Mabel asked with a sharp tone.

"No no look, Mabel, we've gone legit!" Jeff the Gnome began to speak rapidly after climbing to the top of the pile. "I'm got all of us jobs here at this mine so we could earn an honest living, then use it to pay a queen to mate with all of us!" When this only intensified Mabel's glare, he held his hands in front of his face in a gesture begging for mercy. "Please, you wouldn't kick an endangered species, would you?"

Mabel snorted in response to his plea. "What do you mean, endangered? There's like, a million of you little creeps!"

"Not since Bill happened." Jeff replied, and Mabel felt her righteous anger deflate inside her, fear of more guilt building in her throat. "That maniac and his goons took to playing darts during that crazy party of theirs. We were the darts, and the flaming maw of an all devouring horror from beyond time was the dartboard." He explained, while giving his red cap a little, regretful rub. "We haven't taken a queen since, what with our numbers being so low. We were on the verge of saving enough money, then all the mine worker gnomes got replaced by those brutes and I'm the only one getting a check."

"You mean the manotaurs? They work here now?" Mabel asked, before throwing her eyes all over the office. "What is this place, anyway?"

"They're a bunch of small, winged freaks calling themselves the Freemana Independent Mining Concern, showed up about a year ago and set this place up under your brother's nose." Jeff explained. "Thing is though, nobody and I mean nobody had ever heard of them up until now. Either they were hiding real low until Bill Cipher flushed them out, or they rode in with that guy. They're nasty enough to be his friends."

"Are these more of those horrible flying eyeballs that turn people to stone!?" Grenda asked up suddenly. "My neighbor still walks funny after he got was free from that."

"Nah, they're normal looking human fellas, just with wings and pointy hair." Jeff explained. "The training video they had me watch was something about unused magic coalescence being a harvestable resource for magical communication, but between you and me, they seem like they want to run this place under the radar. I know they're digging stuff up here, but I have no idea where it goes when the day's work is over."

"What about the manotaurs?" Mabel insisted to know.

"Right, those smelly jerks." Jeff spat. "They put us all out of work is what they did. They're not even taking money for their work, just weird vials of potion." Then, he got a sly look on his face. "Hey, what are you up to around here anyway? You trying to shut this place down?"

"All I want is the truth, where can I talk to the fairies or whatever who run this place?" Mabel replied, causing Jeff to grin widely before digging around under his desk.

"You'll want to go through the cargo door into the mines, they're all down their overseeing the work during the day. This office behind me is empty right now, all the paperwork happens when the work is done." He explained while rummaging about, throwing crumpled paper, small jewels and a rubber duck out behind him. "I just schedule meetings and take orders during the day."

Finally, he climbed up to the desk on the back of another gnome, key in hand. "Hey, break a leg down there, preferably one with a hoof on the end." Jeff wished well as he handed off the key. Then, he leaned an elbow on the desk and tried to shot the three a confident smile. "So, when this all over, anyone want to hit the deep woods? Mushrooms are on me."

A moment later, Jeff went flying through the glass window that provided the waiting room with a small amount of light. A moment later, Mabel, Grenda and Candy walked out the nearby door, passing by the downed gnome picking glass from his spinal region. "That loses a lot of impact when you walk by right after." Candy remarked as the three shuffled over to unlock the larger door.

Behind it lay a dark, stuffy room, where the walls were stuffed to the brim with shelves and racks of mining equipment while a mining cart sat on a set of rails leading into a dark depth.

More concerning was the fact a guard was present, a very small elf like figure bearing gossamer wings. They were perched upon a wall mounted oil lantern, but fortunately seemed to be asleep on the job, lazing about on the metal pole connecting the light source to the wall.

Mabel put her finger over her grinning lips, indicating for her friends to move silently. The three tip toed through the room, trying to get a closer look at the supplies, but disaster occurred when Grenda bumped into a storage unit of pickaxes, resulting in it tumbling from its spots on the wall.

The mining tools scattered across the ground with a raining clang of metal while the container itself tilted over into the one next to it, setting off a clattering chain reaction of collapsing containers and falling mining gear. The three girls stood shock still as the deafening cacophony rang out around them, only daring to breathe again when a few seconds of silence reigned.

Miraculously, the guard was still asleep after the raucous noise, and so with extreme trepidation Mabel took one step forward, only to bring her foot down a flaky, brittle ball of earth and dirt, which crackled apart with a soft noise underneath her foot.

The girls glanced up at the guard, who hadn't been roused from his slumber. "Okay girls," Mabel whispered as softly as possible. "Grab some of the safety gear."

They had large amount to choose from, so within moments the three were all wearing mining helmets and stuffed to the pockets with bits and tools. Now fully equipped, Mabel turned towards the darkness fed by the rail track, and clicked on the flashlight built into her helmet.

"Huh, what was that!? Did someone just turn on the light on one of those mining helmets, in the process of stealing it!?" The pixie guard was abruptly roused from his lazing, wings beginning to beat into action while eyes widened at the intruders.

"OH COME ON, THAT WAKES YOU UP!?" Mabel screams in frustration as her sneaky entrance finally comes to an end.

"Come on Mabes!" Grenda called out, having positioned herself behind the mining cart that Candy had already gotten inside. Mabel hoped in as well while the strong one of the group got the cart rolling, slowly building up speed while the angry guard buzzed overhead like a wasp. Grenda jumped in herself as the front two wheels slipped over the downward incline, and soon the three were being carried under the earth through the power of gravity.

"Multi-track drifting!" Candy yelled while rocking the sides of the cart, causing the wheels to spark against the rusty metal as the three raced into the unknown depths.

* * *

Back in the town of Gravity Falls Dipper was being led through the streets by Pacifica, who had elected to show him somewhere nice in return after their picnic had ended. As they walked through the town, Dipper was consistently greeted warmly by the passing townsfolk, with even the local officers Blubs and Durland giving him a top of the morning, at which point Dipper actually came to a stop to converse with them.

"Good morning sheriff, deputy." Dipper addressed. "Everything, you know, safe around here?"

"Safe as can be, Dipper, safe as can be, especially with you around to keep the weirdness in check." Blubs responded. "Kid, are you sure we can't interest you in those detective academy booklets? You'd make an upstanding member of law enforcement!"

"Sorry guys, not really my calling." Dipper responded, closing his eyes and rubbing the back of his head with his hand. "Anyways, I'm a little busy right now, talk to you guys later."

"Alright, you kids stay out of trouble!" Durland called in a friendly tone as they continued their patrol. Once they were well out of sight, Dipper pulled a small notepad out of his pocket and scribbled a little on it.

"Dipper, I thought you said no work today." Pacifica replied lightly.

"Just a quick note taking." He replied, pocketing the tools soon after. "Pacifica, have you noticed people around town getting smarter?" he asked abruptly.

The girl arched at eyebrow at this question and looked back at Dipper with an incredulous face. It took her a moment, but she eventually responded with "Why yes Dipper, the town of Gravity Falls has transformed into a shinning beacon of wisdom and enlightenment since you have blessed it with your arrival."

Her tone was bitingly sarcastic, and the statement was accompanied by a gesturing sweep of the block, upon which was Manly Dan attempting to get a kitten out of a tree by hacking it down with an ax while the worried little girl stood on the other side of the trunk, some resident they didn't know was running out of a shop with a cart full of 50% off doorknobs yelling "IT'S FREE MONEY" and Tad Strange attempted to order egg cream from a man with an ice cream cart.

Dipper couldn't help but let out a small chuckle at this. "I mean, you're not wrong, but the reason everyone in this town is so out of it is because of all the years they'd been having their minds erased by the Society of the Blind Eye. Me and Grunkle Ford are always looking to observe how they recover from the deep rooted mental decay now that they're no longer suffering regular memory wipes."

With a more serious expression, Dipper looked down the street at the departing police car. "The cops are some of the more important people to keep an eye on. Grunkle Ford extrapolated that they've been memory wiped the most since the a lot of people would respond to a supernatural disturbance by calling the police, so they get caught up in a lot of Blind Eye secret keeping. As the most severe cases, they're very important to understanding the nature of the mental decay early versions of the memory gun caused."

Pacifica was listening intently during Dipper's explanation, but at the end couldn't help but add in with "That explains a lot about law enforcement in this town."

"Yeah, that's one way to put it." Dipper responded idly to her sarcasm. Then, he looked back at her with an apologetic look on his face. "Sorry, I know this was supposed to be a fun day away from work..."

"Hey, don't worry about that Dipper. I appreciate you for who you are, and part of who you are is a smart guy who is really enthusiastic about the things he works on. You don't have to change who you are around me." Pacifica cut in. "Anyways, enough standing around and talking, lets get moving."

"Yeah, let's keep going." Dipper responded, but stood behind for a moment when Pacifica began to step away. "Hey Paz?" He spoke up, causing her to stop. "I appreciate you for you are to. I know you're kinda insecure about being a good person or not, but I think you are. You just weren't given the opportunity to be yourself very often."

The blond was still for a moment, causing Dipper to worry he'd said something wrong, but soon enough she glanced back at him, a sardonic expression on her face. "Paz?" she questioned in a deadpan tone.

Dipper immediately became flustered and defensive. "It was just, you know, a friendly nickname idea. I mean if you want to get technical you never call me by my real name..."

Pacifica burst into laughter at this, as despite her best efforts Dipper's awkward bouts were always a little comical. "Hey, don't feel bad, I kinda like it. But we can talk about this later, if we linger around for too long we won't have enough time where we're going."

* * *

The human carrying minecart rocketed into the depths, running down a winding tunnel off which small, unstable tunnels branched short distances. The deeper the three got, the more often they could see small specks of light stuck into the dirt and floating like dust. Also flying by were the angry faces of more winged guards.

Finally the ride came to an end, with the cart slamming into the the stopping pad at the end of the rail, causing all three girls to be hurled from the cart at high speeds. A second after the impact, a softly glowing winged human just like the surface guard flew out of the bit in a haste.

Mabel was yelling with excitement before she landed on something soft but scratchy, almost sinking into the unknown substance before a deep, booming voice revealed the nature of her landing pad.

"Hey! Who threw this piece of paper at my backhair!" A manotaur yelled out while turning around. This elicited giggles from Mabel.

"It's me you big silly, not a piece of paper!" When the creature's large hands plucked her free, she threw open her hands in gesture of introduction while adding "Mabel, remember? We met during the apocalypse, talked about our feelings, knitted sweaters..."

"Oh, Mabel, of course!" He answered in a softer tone while placing her on the ground. "These sweaters have actually come in very handy, as we labor down here in the cold, dank depths." He said, while pointing a massive finger to a different manotaur, wearing a large homemade sweater as he split stones with a pick-ax, taking a brief stop to smile and wave to Mabel

"I'm sure you remember my friends from the giant robot, right? Candy, Grenda, both of you alright?" She called out, quickly getting affirmative responses from the two.

"All good! Grenda don't crack!"

"I am fine as well, having missed this large crystal by 2.6 centimeters with my spine."

Having turned around to spot her friends, Mabel was finally able to take a wide look around the bottom of the mine shaft. It was much like you'd expect, a wide, smooth cave carved out of the ground, but from all surfaces poked crystal masses, strange shapes like glass with glowing blue light coming from within. The faint blue light was added by wall mounted torches to provide rather good lighting for a mine.

"What is going on here, anyway?" Mabel finally asked, turning back to the manotaur. "We came by the man cave in the forest and were worried you guys had all been kidnapped, given the hole in the wall."

"No, that was simply practice, practice for our new job as MANLY MINERS!" The large monster explained, before throwing a fist at the earthen walls. "Even the ground itself must yield before our muscles!"

"Right, great. Well, that solves our mystery at least." Mabel responded, putting her fist under her chin in contemplation of the anticlimactic ending to the plot she'd uncovered. "Say, can you tell us anything about the people running this place?"

"They're brave pixie miners who have come from far away to fight for the manly cause of INDEPENDENCE!" The manotaur explained, flexing his muscles at the emphasized word. "These crystals are what happens when magic energy hangs around and doesn't get used, combining together in a collectible form that can be shaped into whatever is needed! The kingdom of Pixtopia unfairly regulates the harvest and sale of these crystals, but the Freemana Independent Mining Concern is running wild on their rules and regulations!"

"And apparently they pay you in potions?" Mabel asked skeptically.

"Yes! Despite our training devoted lifestyle, we were still too weak to defeat Bill Cipher and his forces of evil during his invasion, in honorable hand to hand wrestling!" He yelled with despair in his voice, while retrieving a syringe filled with glowing green juice from a nearby lunchbox. "This magic potion triggers muscle growth even in the most swole of manotaurs, pushing us to even greater heights!" He screamed while jamming the sharp end into a bulging arm artery.

"Ooooh, magic drugs! Can I get a hit?" Mabel asked, put right after saying this the hum of flying insects and the shouting of high pitched, scratchy voices began to fill the room, coming from the mine shaft.

"Intruders in the mines! Take them down now!" They were shouting as the slightly less than a dozen pixie guards surged into cavern. On impulse, Mabel picked up a nearby shovel and slammed it into a pixie coming at her with a whip, splattering him against the broad metal head of the weapon.

"Get back to work!" A different one yelled, snapping at an un-involved manotaur with his glowing whip, and on contact, the worker abruptly seized up as an electrical current caused his massive muscles to cramp up agonizingly. As he fell to the floor in withering pile, the flying guard looked down at his own weapon with contemplation. "Maybe this isn't the best way of maximizing efficiency..."

His musing was interrupted when Candy knocked him out of the sky with a well thrown rock, resulting in a nearby Manotaur screaming "YEAH! WORKPLACE VIOLENCE!" and jumping into the fray.

Soon enough, the mine pit was a messy melee of manotaurs throwing tools and rocks at the faster but weaker pixie guards, who counterattacked with whips and batons. The three humans were lost in the fighting, crawling along the ground to stay hidden among the massive workers.

"Okay girls, mystery over, time to leave!" Mabel declared as they tried to get back to the mine cart. Upon reaching it though, they quickly realized a problem.

"Mabel, if you ask me to push this cart up for you I can try, but I can't guarantee we'll get very far." Grenda remarked. "I'm not a huge, steroid abusing monster after all. Sometimes I wish I was, but I'm not."

"No, you're right, we can't escape uphill in this thing!" Mabel groaned in exasperation, the three now hiding behind the cart to avoid notice. "Come on Mabel, what would Dipper do in this situation!?"

 _"He'd have thought things out better before just blindly charging in."_ She thought to herself sourly, but forced herself into a more positive train of thought. _"He'd put together stuff established earlier in the adventure that he knows all about to conclude things on a logical and thematically appropriate note."_ With that in mind, her eyes traveled to a spike of crystal coming from the earth wall nearby. "Here goes nothing..." she said, while traveling over the ground towards the spike and attempting to snap the end off.

"Hands off the company property!" Came a high pitched yell, as a pixie guard charged right at Mabel. The crystal bent surprisingly easily in her hands and came free, giving her enough time to through a punch at the flying menace. The winged humanoid dodged it, swooping low to try and wretch the crystal free with surprising strength. "If I lose that, it comes out of my paycheck!"

"Well I need it for... stuff!" Mabel yelled back, the two struggling back and forth for a few moments before the human girl resorted to a wild punch in the face with her left hand, knocking the light weight body of the flying creature away from her with a dusty crunch.

Mabel ran back, gesturing for her friends to jump in the cart before joining them. She looked down at the crystal of raw magic in her hands, fingers feeling tingly, unsure of how to proceed.

The pixie guard meanwhile, had slammed into one of the wall mounted torches keeping this place illuminated, knocking it free with another bone crunching impact for the hollow boned humanoid. The still lit torch hit the ground of mine floor, rolling with the slight incline of the shaft towards a dangerously placed box of blasting equipment.

"Alakazam, presto-chango, alli-alli-oxenfree, please... COME ON CART, FLY LIKE THE WINDS!" Mabel was going through magic words to try and use the magic crystal, but it was with the final angered yelling that something began to happen. Almost as if responding to Mabel's imagination, whispy, dusty light began to flow out of the crystal in two streams, both of which coalesced on the sides of the cart into white feathered wings, which abruptly sprung into action, propelling the industrial tool uphill at breakneck speeds!

"WOO-HOO! NOW THIS IS MAGIC!" Mabel cheered, revealing her ability to draw mana from a stone. She didn't even notice right away the high speeds had slammed her and her friends into the back of the cart, but in a moment of thoughtfulness willed rainbow colored seat belts out of the stone for her and her friends.

"HOW DID YOU DO THAT MABEL!?" Grenda yelled out of amazement and adrenaline.

"It just... responded to my imagination!" Mabel guessed. "I can't wait to show this to Dipper!"

"I am not sure if much will be left!" Candy remarked, as the crystal had indeed shrank since the first use, as the dusty light continued to flow from the stone into the wings, depleting like a gas tank.

"Don't worry, you saw the motherlode they had down, there will be plenty to go around!" Mabel replied confidently, putting her hands behind her head and leaning back to enjoy the ride. "We'll accomplish so much together using this, and it'll all be thanks to me!"

A moment later, at the bottom of the shaft the rolling torch had hit the blasting equipment, and in a hot second the wooden box caught fire, which ignited the fuses inside, resulting in one of the red sticks detonating and setting of a chain reaction, quickly consuming the bottom of the mine shaft in a thundering blast.

All three humans were startled by the massive noise echoing through the mine shaft, and peaked out of the back to look back into darkness. Even with their limited visibility up here, it was obvious the earth trail was collapsing behind them, the walls of fallen earth steadily gaining on them.

"FASTER FASTER FASTER!" Mabel turned around and yelled at the crystal, gripping it tight in her hands. In response, more streams of light flowed out, both feeding the wings to make them beat faster and abruptly adding a rocket engine to the back which roared to life to add speed, and a wave of light which abruptly painted the mind cart red and added decals of flaming bunnies.

With the huge burst in speed, the mine cart slammed back into the equipment room in record time ahead of the collapse, and its three riders scrambled to get out of the building. They reached the outside just in time to watch the mining building collapse into the earth below it, splintering and shattering as the foundation gave way, scaring off birds for miles in every direction.

Eventually, the rumbling stopped, and the only sound left for miles was the sound of the three heavily panting teenagers, looking extremely disturbed and guilt stricken at what had happened. Mabel tried to crack a smile and remark that "Well, at least we still have..." only to notice the mana crystal had turned to dust upon holding up the hand it was in.

They were quiet for a few more minutes, with Grenda being the one to break the silence. "A wise man once told me 'There's no cops in the forest. We take this to our graves.' I propose we follow the advice of that wise, smelly man." While Candy nodded enthusiastically in agreement, Mabel simply gave the collapsed ruin worn out, regretful stare.

 _"Just another painful secret..."_

* * *

Dipper, meanwhile, was trying to gently put a blue colored golf ball into an adorable miniature replica of an old timey mine, down at the Gravity Falls miniature golf course.

"You're gonna overshoot it with that posture, you're leaning to hard on the club and will put more energy then you mean to into the swing. You need a softer touch." Dipper gave Pacifica a friendly glare then swung anyway, and true to her word, the golf ball overshot the mining shaft entrance and was instead fell down a pipe leading to the civil war fort course, where it was launched out of a cannon into a pond with a humiliating _plop_ sound. "Should've listened to the expert, Pines."

"I'm just surprised you still play this game, considering, well, you know..." Dipper responded with a bit of fluster, stepping back to give her the next swing.

"Lifetime membership means lifetime membership, no point in letting it go to waste." Pacifica explained while setting up her purple colored golf ball. "Besides, if I stayed away from every place I'd ever been threatened with death, I'd have had to skip down after... the incident."

Then, she lined her golf club up to make the hit Dipper had failed at, but abruptly picked it up and looked back at her opponent. "And I can already tell you're gearing up to apologize for the whole golf people thing, so I'm going to preemptively tell you not to worry about. You've apologized for it before and overwhelmingly made up for it."

Dipper was winded at having been cut off in such a manner, resorting to pulling his hat over his eyes and looking down. "You almost died Pacifica." he said softly.

"I was a cruel person who'd shown you no reason to feel any sympathy for me." Pacifica remarked offhandedly while going back to setting up her swing. "It's honestly kind of touching that you'd go so far to protect people you care about, and help them win at any cost." she explained, and a moment later, one perfect swing sent the ball right to its destination.

Dipper had been observing her technique as she lined up the put, working out how to replicate it exactly. When he stepped up, her mirrored her pose, readied his club, and was lined up for a perfect swing, and...

"Plus, a lot of girls like bad boys."

Dipper completely lost his footing as his knees gave out, turning his gentle tap into a wild swing that sent the ball flying into a little toy pirate ship floating in the middle of a water trap, smashing a hole in the side and sinking the vessel on the spot. He looked over at Pacifica, who couldn't help but giggle at his reaction.

"I'm... I'm really sorry Dipper. But you, your reaction to that..." She apologized in between laughs, though after a few moments, Dipper began giggling as well.

"Well, if that line was meant to imply I'm some kind of bad boy, that's the most bold face lie you've told yet!" Dipper shot back, walking to grab another blue golf ball from the small bag they'd come in as the laughing died down.

"Oh, I don't know about that. After all, Pacifica Northwest is no liar!" The blond girl responded. "You're kinda like... an intellectual bad boy, like a cross between a bad boy and a nerd." She continued while picking up the score sheet to update it. "Like, you're really smart and good at studying and researching, but you reject society's norms to pursue your ambition of learning about gnomes and ghosts instead of getting a normal job working in a hospital. You did things your way even when it was difficult and became really happy because of it."

After penciling down the last number she got up and walked closer to Dipper. "Plus you're a lot more ruthless and certain about your decisions and research, instead of constantly falling to your knees and screaming WHAT HAS SCIENCE DONEEEEEE!?" Then, after reaching their small collection of golfing equipment, she added "And you know what else you are?"

Dipper was actually getting a little sweaty under the polo shirt Pacifica had asked him to change into for their game of golf, while she had changed into an older version of her old golfing uniform. He really wasn't sure what direction this was going or what direction he WANTED it to go. "What else am I, Pacifica?"

"You're a whole 5 points higher then me on the golf score!" She declared teasingly, gathering up her half of the stuff and taking off towards the next hole down. "Catch up when you can, Pines!"

Dipper smiled as relief flowed over his body, bit did scowl at little at how badly he was doing at mini-golf. When she wasn't be sabotaged by nationalistic living golf balls, she lived up to her reputation at the game.

And just as quickly, Dipper was dour as his memories of the Liliputtians washed over him. As petty and bloodthirsty as they had been, he couldn't help but feel a fleeting sense of sympathy for them.

After all, Bill Cipher's interpretation of their beloved game was a cruel, brutal and ultimately genocidal affair he wouldn't wish on anyone. His and Ford's attempt to help the few survivors who had reached the Mystery Shack rebuild their race was one of the two's few complete failures, as despite their best efforts and the Liliputtians' fast breeding rate the bottleneck effect had depleted their genetic diversity, and the remainder off the species was wiped out when winter eventually came around.

Dipper let out a sigh, realizing his focus had been completely disrupted by Pacifica's teasing and his own propensity for brooding. Glancing from side to side to make sure no one was watching, Dipper opted to run up and drop his golf ball directly down the most difficult shot on the little model, spitting his ball out right into a hole in one so he could catch up with Pacifica and continue the game.

* * *

By the time night had fallen over the town, both Pines Twins' days had come to an end. Mabel had returned to the Shack first and was sulking over the day's events in the kitchen with a 2-liter bottle of soda and a little paper cup to pour drinks into, and a little while later Dipper returned home with Pacifica, the two laughing about something the blond girl had said as they came through the door. As soon as the two groups came into contact, the air turned awkward.

"H... Hey Mabel." Dipper asked, not sure what to say.

"Hey bro-bro." Mabel responded despondently before downing a cup of soda. "How'd your day go?"

"It was actually really good." Dipper replied, a bit of a pleased smile crossing his face. "Pacifica and I just... spent the day relaxing after all the craziness recently. How have you been doing?"

Mabel did perk up at Dipper's obvious happiness, but was airy and vague when she responded. "Oh, you know. It was okay. Caught up with Grenda and Candy."

"Oh, that's good." Dipper responded, the conversation sort of petering out. The boy let out an exaggerated yawn to try and get away from the tense air, saying "Well, I'm exhausted, I'll just, uh, head underground and get ready for bed. Goodnight Mabel, goodnight Pacifica." before ducking out to the vending machine elevator.

The two girls were left alone together now, and the air got even more awkward. Pacifica ended up being the first one to speak, making a nervous gulp before addressing Mabel in a tone that was partially bossy and partially nervous. "Mabel, look, we need to talk about things. I know we have problems between us but I want to put those aside and ask you about..."

"The answer is no." Mabel replied bluntly, downing another whole cup of soda. "Whatever your argument is going to be, I do not give you my blessing to date my brother and will not give you any advice on doing so."

Pacifica was taken aback at Mabel's words, flustered and angry at the same time. That hadn't necessarily been what Pacifica wanted to talk about, but she was prepared for the idea to come up. "Besides the fact that was not at all what I was going to ask about, what gives you the right to dictate who your brother can and can't date?" she asked indignantly.

"I say so because you're no good for him!" Mabel accused back. "You'll push him further and further into this crazy, dangerous world he's picked out for himself in an attempt to rebuild your stupid fortune, and one day that's going to get Dipper hurt!"

"The only person hurting Dipper around here is you, with your obnoxious, possessive and selfish personality!" Pacifica shot back. "If you had gotten your way like you always did Dipper would be living his entire life in pain, far away from his dreams and his passions, suffocating in drudgery and stuck with you!"

"You two compliment each others worst personality traits!" Mabel argued back, becoming defensive. "And I think I know a little bit more about human relationships then some stuck up rich girl raised to manipulate people all her life!"

"That's a lot of talk coming from someone with no healthy relationships." Pacifica cut back, causing Mabel to visibly wince at the comment. "Forget this, talking to you is pointless." she added coldly before striding out of the room, leaving Mabel sitting alone under the lone kitchen light.


	14. Down To Earth: Chapter 3

It had been several days since Mabel's adventure to the crystal mine, and she'd been in a funk for the entire time period. The days passed going about town to revisit familiar sights alongside some combination of Grunkle Stan, Candy or Grenda. Though she'd genuinely had fun during her times on the town, the newfound reality of her emotional distance from Dipper ate at her all the while.

It was now the beginning of afternoon on a day where Mabel had nothing really planned at the moment, and was just hanging about in her bedroom. She was roused from her careful examination of her recently raided knitting supplies by a knock at the door. "Come in!" She greeted cheerfully, and her mouth widened into genuine happiness when her twin brother opened the portal. Not even the fact that Pacifica Northwest was behind him could dampen her enthusiasm. "Hey bro-bro, what's up?"

"Hey Mabel." Dipper responded a little awkwardly. He shuffled into the room wearing one of his work outfits, a long multi-pocketed zipped closed vest over pocket laden cargo pants that were usually stuffed to the seams, the whole outfit inspired by Grunkle Ford. Pacifica was dressed with less carrying space but still practical, a women's polo shirt trucked into belt tightened, durable pants, both colored her usual mix of white and light purple.

Despite their argument with each other following the three's victorious return from the fight against Bill Cipher, the twins were still on speaking terms. They shared meals, made small talk, and Dipper had even joined Mabel in town a few times when he wasn't busy. There simply existed an emotional gap between the two that both were uncomfortable talking about. "I was wondering if you'd be willing to help us out with an expedition we're doing today?"

Mabel gasped with surprise, but was quickly on her feet, bouncing on her heels in front of the two. "Of course I'll help you Dipper! It'll be just like old times, solving mysteries together! So, what's the situation we're dealing with!?"

Dipper grew a weak, awkward smile at this while Pacifica simply maintained a flat expression. "Well, Grunkle Ford was going through his backlog of relaxing, non-threatening experiments and he found a geological survey of the town, which doesn't match the older surveys he collected before going into the portal. Based on the data he's collected, the town's rocky areas abruptly developed some kind of natural hot spring, even though none of the data he had collected indicated one was forming and thirty years is a blink of the eye in geological terms. He traced the flow of mineral rich water to an area covered in rock paintings we've always wanted to document." He explained at length, then smiled at Mabel while rubbing the back of his neck. "I figured you could help out by using those art skills to copy down the rock paintings while me and Pacifica investigate any water changes in the area."

"I'd be happy to! It sounds like a fun little trip!" Mabel exclaimed, before rushing towards the closet. "In fact, I've got the perfect thing for this!" She jumped all the way inside the wooden storage space, slamming the door behind her and rummaging about to the mystified looks of the two outside. Moments later, she fell out in a massive pile of clothes, most of them homemade.

Mabel soon burst out of the clothes pile, wearing her most ambitious creation yet, something she'd been working on since her disastrous adventure in the mine in an attempt to be more like Grunkle Ford. It was an imitation of his longcoat, but pieced together from Mabel's assorted knitting material and and few cannibalized sweaters she no longer fit into. From these disparate components and Mabel's own creative nature came a genuine Frankenstein's Monster of fashion: a knee length exploding rainbow of colors and designs, all roughly patched together in the shape of a coat with no regard for color coding or visual composition, whose inner linings were ripped out for more pocket space. "What do you guys think? It's my own Mabel style science suit!" She asked, while doing a little twirl that showed the patchwork nature extended in 360 degrees. Upon further inspection, she managed to add mustard colored striped pants and an undershirt that was decorated with long rows of Mystery Shack brand question marks underneath it.

Pacifica's mouth was wide open, gurning with a mix of shock, incomprehension, disgust and disbelief as the outfit offended every bit of fashion knowledge she'd accumulated over her high society life. A confused gurgle came out of her throat as she tried to voice a reply, but Dipper cut her off by speaking comprehensibly first. "It's very you, Mabel." He said with a sincere grin, getting a little warm hearted over his sister's old wackiness. "I don't think anyone else in the world could pull it off, but I like it." Dipper was silent for a moment longer than was comfortable. "Well, glad to have you along then. Get all your sketching supplies together and anything else you want to bring, me and Pacifica still have some preparing to do." He finished, before heading downstairs to finalize preparations.

Pacifica followed him a moment later, after she composed herself and shot Mabel a glare, which the Pine Twin responded to with a satisfied smile. "That's right you bleach blond stereotype, the Mystery Twins are back in action!" The Pines remarked, before traveling over to his piles of luggage she still hadn't fully unpacked. Unlocking a smaller, metal box lined with the sparkly black fluff padding, Mabel was grinning ear to ear as the old grappling hook came into view.

* * *

About twenty minutes later, Mabel exited the Shack's back door, heading towards a ramshackle garage assembled behind the building. As time had gone on and Dipper had grown up in Gravity Falls, Grunkle Ford had acquired a surprisingly spacious inconspicuous white panel van that was stored back here, with a sizable science lab put in back, accessible from two sideways doors on the flanks and a pair of back doors. Mabel had been told once or twice during their corresponding that Dipper had been learning to drive out in Gravity Falls, but never had a picture of the vehicle sent to her or described. As a result, she was floored when it rolled out of the garage and into sight.

"Ah, good timing Mabel, we just need to load the last couple of things in and we'll be ready to go." Dipper remarked, getting out of the van but frowning and standing still when he saw his sister rooted in place. "What's wrong Mabel?"

The female twin was standing their with a look of shock, personal offense and bursting laughter. "Dipper, you... you're..." She breathed out, slowly being consumed by laughter. "You're driving a freaking diddler van!"

Dipper frowned and got a little huffy over his twin's statement. "It's a practical vehicle Mabel. We need to be able to move a lot of supplies to the field and carry samples back here. It has a very roomy back compartment that meets those needs."

"You lure those samples into the van with a bag of candy?" Mabel asked teasingly, leaning forward on her heels while making the joke. After a moment though, her smile became a bit weak when Dipper wasn't laughing with her. Now more cautious, she began to step forward towards the passenger door. "Uh, well, never mind, let's get going on the ro... oh my god you even tinted the windows!"

Soon enough the three of them were on the road, Dipper and Pacifica riding up front while Mabel took one of the driver's cabin's back seats, an aftermarket modification forced in by the vehicle's owners in hopes that the entire Pines family could ride together one day. From her somewhat cramped seating, Mabel spoke up after they'd been driving a short distance. "So, what's so special about this find we're investigating?"

"It's nothing too big honestly, this is should be a simple little check out." Dipper replied. "It's entirely possible this is perfectly normal geothermal activity, but anything related to water is worth looking into, seeing how issues related to it are some of the most preeminent of the modern world." He stopped the van for a moment, as they were at a red light, and had a thought while they waited for it to change. "Hmm, maybe once Bill is dead, it will be possible to use the portal to acquire potable water from other dimensions..."

Mabel was a little unnerved at Dipper's new musing. "I thought you guys were going to, you know, dismantle that portal when we didn't need it anymore? Go back to that interdimensional viewing you'd rejiggered it for, you know, without the risk of falling through?"

"Believe me Mabel, numerous safety features were implemented before we restructured the viewer back into the portal." Dipper replied. "With how useful the device has been against Bill, and the extremely high and stable performance we're seeing from it, we're probably going to keep it around and find new applications for the technology when this threat has passed. In particular, I think it'd be interesting to find alternate dimensions that we can siphon fresh water out of to alleviate Earth's water needs!"

Mabel blanched a little at this. "You mean, you'd turn the portal into a pump!?" she asked, a wary tone to her voice.

"Of course not Mabel, the original portal is completely structurally unsuitable to do that kind of job, water pressure would be a problem and it'd spill water all over the floor." Dipper explained, a bit of snark in his voice. "We'd have to build new portal devices."

The girl in the backseat was simply taken aback by this declaration. She flashed back to all the negative feelings the underground machine had caused her: fear of the gravity anomalies, conflict as she ignored Dipper's trust, ever increasing regret after she gave the rift it spawned to Bill Cipher, sympathy she felt for Grunkle Stan and a low seed of resentment she felt for the man who came through it. She didn't know how to process the idea Dipper was enthusiastic about building more of them.

Pacifica was the next to speak up, turning her head around the passenger seat to observe Mabel's expression while her own was very satisfied at the other girl's uncertainty. "Just imagine it Mabel. Your brother overseeing a massive facility where gallons of fresh water are pumped in from other worlds. It'll take a lot of time and a lot of work to make it happen, but I completely believe he can do it. I figured you'd be really happy about the idea, what with coming from California and all."

"But... but what about all the damage the portal can do? The gravity changes, the monsters from the other worlds?" Mabel asked, struggling with her own regret.

"No form of achievement comes without risk, but with careful research we can create safety systems which enables responsible use. You can't stop working on things simply because solvable problems arise." Dipper remarked back to her. "If everyone thought like that, we wouldn't have widespread satellite technology because of the _Challenger_ disaster, we wouldn't have airplanes because of the death of Thomas Selfridge, we wouldn't have radioactive power because of the radiation poisoning the Curie family suffered and we wouldn't have boats because someone slipped off one and drowned." He was speaking passionately now, with a characteristic enthusiasm that Mabel had only rarely seen back when they were children.

Unsure what else to say in response, Mabel sank into her seat, folding up inside her long, colorful coat.

* * *

The rest of the drive passed in mostly silence, as Dipper quieted down with a smidgen of embarrassment after his statements about scientific achievement. Small attempts to break the ice had been bandied back and forth after that, but none succeeded. Eventually, the vehicle came to a stop at clearing before an elevating rocky foothill. The three stepped out, and Dipper began unloading supplies from the back of the van. "I presume you brought all the needed art supplies Mabel, so here's the rest of the stuff you'll need." He explained before handing off a steady stream of supplies that his sister's homemade coat managed to swallow completely. "Contact radio, emergency flare gun, dusk mask, first aid kit, trail mix, Grunkle Ford's emergency medical stick, inflatable raft, flashlight..." this continued for about half a minute, until Dipper reached deeper into the van and struggled with an obtuse case, but immediately thought better of handing it off to Mabel when he realized what he was holding "...Actually, let's keep this in the van."

"Whatcha got in there?" Mabel asked, leaning over her brother's shoulder to get a good look.

With a shrug, Dipper simply popped the case open to show her, revealing the container to be a lined transport case for a smooth, silver metal, two handed assembly with a nozzle on the end and a liquid tank receptacle on the top, with two matching containers also held in the box. The two glass cylinders held a soft, clear liquid inside them while being adorned with warning labels. "It's a stone cutting acid jet." Dipper explained, before closing the box up and putting it back in the van. "We could use it to cut the paintings out of the rock and haul the entire block back to the lab, but given that these things are likely cursed we're going to play it safe and just have you draw them."

Soon enough, the three had set off into the rocky hills, moving slowly but steadily through the height variable terrain. Dipper led Mabel and Pacifica through the series of rock paintings he needed copies of, stopping numerous times to scrape samples of stone and dust into small jars. Her eyes were wide as she took in the simple but beautiful works of art that adorned the stones, depicting patterns of the stars, human figures performing various actions in strange, primordial environments, and exaggerated, mythic figures of beasts. Eventually, they came to a cave mouth a few feet away from the latest find and Dipper began to set up equipment, as well as a collapsible table and a few folding chairs to use them on. "This will be our base of operations for the day. You can take breaks in-between drawings here, and I'll anchor our guiding rope to this spot." He explained, applying some of Grunkle Ford's nuclear attraction ultra glue to the ground before sticking a metal rod in it, firmly rooting in place, then tying off a rope to it.

"You got it bro-bro! I'll keep this place nice and secure, trust me! And I'll have your drawings ready for you as soon as you come back!" Mabel replied energetically, whipping out her craftsmen's pencils and paper pad and holding them up.

"Thank you Mabel, I'm sure you will." Dipper now had a long section of rope tied around his waist, other end connected to the metal rod, and Pacifica had done the same. His smile towards his sister was sincere, but awkward and a little cracked. He put a hand on the edge of his hat, seemingly wanting to say something, but couldn't find any words and simply descended into the cave, Pacifica right behind him, poignantly ignoring Mabel. Soon enough, the female twin was all alone in the basic base camp, and her smile withered. After only a moment of mopping however, she got a determined frown and took a deep, calming breath.

"Okay girl, this is your big chance to get Dipper back!" She spoke to herself. "I'm going to give him the best, most accurate traced artwork he's ever seen! Our twin bond will reestablish, Dipper will be back in my life, and maybe I can start protecting him from Pacifica..." Rather than sink into a trail of thought though, Mabel shook her head before spinning about to run towards a painting of stars, wool coat trailing behind her. "Time to get to work!" she declared, unaware she was soon going to being watched.

Deeper into the treeline, by the road the three had driven down to get to the site, time and space were briefly cut apart in a neat, straight vertical line, splitting into a stable pathway through which a figure could step. Heavy boots stomped on the grass underfoot, as the fairly short but stocky figure was covered from head to toe in over sized hunter's garments, pocket covered and baggy clothes in a mix of dark green and earth tones. The face of the figure was obscured with an equally camouflaging floppy hat and a black, mesh hood obscuring their face. After a brief examination of their surroundings, the figure hefted two objects, one to each hand: a pair of binoculars in the left hand, and a long, curved sword in the right. Then, they set off down the road.

* * *

Meanwhile, the two other explorers found the cave getting dark very quickly, resulting in Dipper activating a flashlight to maintain visibility. Even with the mechanical assistance however, the rock cavern seemed to be getting darker the deeper they went, the air thicker and the walls a little further away. Unknowingly, Dipper and Pacifica found themselves nudging closer to each other every time the drop of water or a crumbling underfoot rock mildly startled one of them. Neither of them commented on it, but very soon they were exploring the cave with free hands clasped together and bodies close to one another.

Despite this, neither of them were truly afraid of the place they were exploring, rather they were determined to uncover anything unusual. Pacifica was using an air sampler Grunkle Ford had built out of a handheld vacuum cleaner to sample the atmosphere for later study, while Dipper scraped up more stone samples as well bottling up drops of water pooling on the floor or dripping down the walls. The cave was becoming increasingly damp the deeper they dove into it, though nothing resembling a stream or water flow existed. Rather, the water simply seemed to be in the air.

Dipper and Pacifica worked meticulously, collecting samples of water, rock, and everything else from every surface. Each sample was bustled into an empty test tube, which were distinguished by strips of tape and extensive documentation from the end of a black sharpie. They worked quietly, for the most part, Dipper finding the silence sort of comfortable to conduct his investigation in. He didn't feel nervous or embarrassed or defensive about his exploring his interests when Pacifica was around, though he wasn't sure if she enjoyed the silence as much as he did and felt obligated to talk about something to lighten the mood in the dark cave.

Dipper struggled to find a topic of conversation to spit out of his compacted throat, when to his relief Pacifica spoke up while removing her hand from his grip, with a motion suggesting she hadn't even realized she'd been holding his. "Uh, sorry about that. No offense, but the air in this cave is making both our hands clammy." As the blond remarked this, she shook the hand about to send the moisture flying. Dipper, flustered, pulled his hat down with his other, equally sweaty hand, and turned his focus towards a rock wall.

"If there is an undiscovered water source around here, something must be turning into mist up here, since I don't see a flow source." He chattered somewhat nervously. "Either that, or atmospheric conditions are blowing air moisture into this cavern, which condenses it...''

"What are we going to do if we do find a water source down here?" Pacifica asked, also trying to not look directly at Dipper. "Pass it off to the infinite wisdom of the five people Mayor Cutebiker could trick into staffing his Water Resources Department branch?"

"Perhaps we'll have to. We'll need to examine them first, see if any kind of lifeforms down there are unique to this particular pool of underground water, provided there actually is one of course." Dipper replied. "Given how isolated this mountain range is, and how deep in a potential water source would need to be based on the fact we're only finding mist so far, the organisms down there could be completely unique, genetically incompatible with creatures from anywhere else in the world! And that's not even getting into the influence of an alien spaceship slamming through the mountain range might have had..."

"Completely unique lifeforms..." Pacifica chewed on the idea for a minute, really evaluating how she felt about the idea. "Well, if that's the case, we'd have to protect them, right? Make sure they're fully understood and discovered instead of being lost forever?"

"Right, gotta put them in the Journal so the knowledge is never truly lost." Dipper affirmed. "Of course, we are in Gravity Falls. A unique pool of blind cave fish is so normal a discovery that it becomes improbable. Allopatric speciation is crazy enough before you factor in literal magic and spaceships."

"Yeah, I'm sure we'll be running from a hand obsessed spirit of revenge made out of melted cotton candy by the time today is over; That's how every trip you take me on ends." Pacifica remarked dryly, but smiled at Dipper nonetheless. "C'mon, let's get this place sampled."

After a half hour of thorough work, they came to the end of the linear cave and discovered its most peculiar feature: a rocky extension of the cave floor, rising up like a stalagmite, but without a tapering into a point at the end. Rather, the rock shape was roughly cylindrical in shape, like a pipe, and upon looking at it from above one realized it was even more like a pipe as it had a smooth cut opening at the top that ran down the rock into darkness. "That hardly seems natural." Dipper remarked, curiosity piqued, and he swiftly brought his tools to bear, scrapping off dust samples and collecting water droplets, while Pacifica picked up a nearby loose stone and dropped it into the black, listening for a moment until the sound of a rock hitting water could be heard.

"Well, there's definitely water down there." Pacifica observed, before somewhat sarcastically adding "That would explain where all this hair curling humidity is coming from." while making a futile attempt to straighten a strand of her blond hair, which had gotten a bit curly during the time she'd spent exploring the cave.

"Yes, but what's heating it enough for it to vaporize and rise up through here? Our geothermal activity perhaps?" Dipper mused, but as he looked back to Pacifica, his expression became one of abject terror as he threw a pointing hand up and yelled "PACIFICA, BEHIND YOU!"

* * *

Outside, Mabel had been hard at work copying the rock drawings, having just completed a pinpoint sketch of her second one. She was holding it rather intently in front of her face, tilting it about in an attempt to find meaning, even holding it upside down at one point. Unknown to her, Mabel was being watched from the woods just as intently as she was watching the rock painting her front of her, though instead of instruments of art, her observer was holding a long, metal instrument of war. While her watcher lay almost motionlessly in the forest grass, Mabel lowered her upside down drawing to compare it to the original.

It was then that she spotted it.

"Hey there little guy!" she crooned gently to an insect that had appeared on the stone, crawling around the colored lines. The bug came to a stop on a blue dot and fluttered its shimmering, gossamer, almost see through green wings as the front two legs rubbed together. "A fellow art lover I see!" Mabel added appreciatively. "I betcha Dipper would love to meet you!" she spoke wistfully while digging around in her many pockets before slyly adding "But uh, you didn't hear this from me, probably better you don't hang out with one Pacifica Northwest. Trust me, you'll thank me later."

In moments, she had the bug catching supplies Dipper had gifted her at the ready: the telescopic butterfly net in one hand, a glass jar in the other. Mabel went to set the jar down in preparation for the catch, but found herself staring at its contents, mystified. "Filter paper, plaster, saw dust, and... are those little sugar crystals on the bottom? Salt maybe? Where are all the bugs supposed to go!?" she spoke to herself.

The watcher saw Mabel begin pulling equipment from her pockets, and briefly considered moving closer to wet the appetite of their weapon, but ultimately held back. They'd been ordered to get all three of them.

Mabel's immediate first impulse was to open the jar up and toss all this junk out to make more room for all the awesome insects she was sure she'd catch today, but as her hand went to the lid, the thoughts caught on something. She paused for a moment, then breathed out "I... I should just trust Dipper on this. He'd have put it together like this for a reason." while removing her hand from the lid to grip the net with both hands. She held it up in the air while hovering over the still radiant insect.

"OK my pretty, come to mama!"

* * *

Pacifica spun around as soon as Dipper pointed, letting out a short scream of surprise at the sight before her. It was a menacing, human shaped thing that loomed over Pacifica while reaching out at her, supported by swollen but spindly limbs and topped with a hairless gray head, whose facial expressions seemed to have melted out of conventional human locations while being painfully swollen. The distorted flesh obscured the humanoid's eyes, but from what little the two could see they were dark and sunken, and the mouth of the thing hung limply open.

The arms were coming down in an attempt to seize Pacifica, but she acted to quickly, backing away on impulse and slamming the atmosphere sampling device into the face of her attacker. The soft, rubbery skin offered no resistance to the metal tool, and a gout of pus burst about as the skin broke, causing Pacifica to let out an involuntary yell of disgust. Nonetheless, the blow proved effective, and the creature stumbled sideways and collapsed, its weak legs giving out and liquid dripped off its face and onto the floor.

However, his form collapsing away revealed a sizable pack of the creatures had snuck up on them, blocking the cave pathway. One of them bore a rough stone knife that had been used to sever the safety ropes, and towards that one Dipper charged in to try to clear the way, the moderate muscles and fighting experience he'd built up over a few years of field work and adventures going into action. He gained control of the knife using limb, trying to wrestle the weapon away, but Dipper was soon grabbed from behind by arms coming around his neck and pulling him backwards, though the boy's hold lasted longer than expected, resulting in the back pull dragging the knife user off his feet, resulting in his lanky, puffy arms unintentionally swinging the knife down to a position where his knee would land right on top of it. The creature wailed out in pain as their kneecap exploded and they collapsed, resulting in a splattering of thick fluid, foul smelling and multicolored.

Pacifica similarly tried to fight back, swinging her atmosphere sampler into the skull of one of the creatures menacing Dipper, but was quickly piled upon and restrained by the mob as well. The creatures had strong, solid grips despite their misshapen forms, and quickly had the two explorers subdued. Even as Dipper and Pacifica struggled against the tall figures holding onto them, they were shuffled a small distance down the cave, to a sunken section of wall where a rock had been rolled aside to allow entrance to a slopping, downward tunnel. "I can't believe I missed that..." Dipper remarked dishearteningly as the two were shuffled down to the darkness.

The party downward was soon joined by most of the creatures that had been wounded in the fighting, having picked themselves up and stemmed the fluid leaks as well as possible. The exception was the one with the exploded kneecap, who could not stand up and was abandoned by the others. After only about a minute of shuffled, struggling walking, Dipper and Pacifica were pushed into an underground chamber by the party of creatures. It was an extremely damp, high ceiling chamber with a large pool of what in the center, faintly illuminated by scattered piles of burning wood, over which skewered, eyeless fish were hung up.

A few more of the creatures were scattered about the room, but it was clear the majority of them had gone up to capture the intruders. Save the four that held Dipper and Pacifica in place, the creatures fanned out around the pool. A high pitched clicking filled the chamber for a sharp moment, after which movement could be seen under the water, which upon close examination was clearly very warm, indicated by the steam rising off it. As the movement ripples neared the rock shore, a figure emerged from the depths; Another one of the creature, but clad in a gray, stained robe that gave it an uncanny resemblance to a manta ray when their arms were spread out.

It stepped upon the shore and looked down at the two captured humans. "You have intruded upon our domain." It abruptly spoke, in a voice that was high pitched but sounded like the speaker had water in their throat, along with a certain wheeze to it.

"We are scientists, who came here to explore the mysteries of Gravity Falls when you attacked us!" Dipper stated with a strong tone, asserting the statement as true. He'd encountered many anomalies during his time studying under Grunkle Ford, and the older scientist taught him it was important to establish qualifications and authority early into such encounters.

"We didn't know anyone was down here though, we wanted to find out what was!" Pacifica interjected, attempting to add a diplomatic slant to their arrival. "We didn't come here looking to hurt anyone."

The leader of this underground group looked down at the two, then began to orate. "We are the shadows beneath your feet, the civilization below which you have built your world upon. All your achievements sit upon our foundation, and at any moment we may open the earth to swallow your works whole, plummeting to darkness."

Dipper cocked an eyebrow with a skeptical look on his face at this, looking aside to Pacifica who shared that expression. "Gravity Falls was the subject of years of brilliant research, and not once was any hint of an underground civilization of such scale and power discovered." He stated, narrowing his eyes at the leader figure. "I think you guys are a motley collection that's taken up residence here recently, probably having caused the unusual environmental readings we just discovered. So, why not explain who you really are?"

The creature leader looked at Dipper, then ran their eyes over its assembled kin ringing the pool of water. "I told you that story wouldn't work." He remarked bitterly, before turning back to focus on the humans. "Very well, children of the clean. You may refer to us as the Futurekind, for that is what we are to you."

* * *

Outside, Mabel was returning to the bare bones base camp to set down her recent drawings so as to not have to carry them around. She was moving around the camp doing so with her usual frantic energy, but after a thoughtless glance one direction she froze in place, a chill going down her spine, before she looked back again in hopes she had imagined it.

Sadly, she hadn't: Both safety ropes were loose against the floor, indicating they'd been cut. Mabel right away brought out the handheld radio she'd been given and activated it. "Dipper, Dipper are you okay bro bro!? The rope is cut out here!" she spoke into the device, having tugged the rope a few times to confirm it had no weight on the end. All that came over the line was static. With a worried expression on her face, Mabel charge right into the cave, following the loose rope down the tunnel and bringing her flashlight up and on to illuminate the way.

Outside, the hunter smiled.

Mabel had rushed down the cave in minutes, proceeding without any of the scientific caution that had slowed down Dipper and Pacifica. Midway through, she heard a distorted, gargling groan of pain coming from deeper down the tunnel. "DIPPER!" She yelled, overcome by panic while rushing down even faster, stumbling over stones in a few places. The girl came to a cold halt however, almost shrinking in place as she cast her flashlight over the lumpy shaped, human like mound on the floor, doubled over and unable to stand due to its stabbed kneecap.

Mabel was still and cautious for just a moment, until a pitiful groan of pain came out of the creature and spurred Mabel into action, rushing forward and kneeling down besides the creature. "What... are you? Are you hurt?" she asked, and in a well meaning but somewhat clumsy move, flipped the wounded figure over to try and get a better look, bringing the stabbed kneecap into view but drawing another pained groan out of the creature. "SORRY! Sorry!"

Even without all of Dipper and Ford's fancy pants science knowledge, Mabel could figure out what had happened, what with the still damp knife sitting nearby, stained with the same foul smelling liquid that leaked out of the flesh wound. A thought crossed her mind, wondering how responsible for this injury her brother might have been, but she quickly forced it out of her brain. "Pacifica probably stabbed this guy." She snorted dismissively.

Another groan of pain came from the creature, knocking Mabel out of her spiteful contemplation. She stumbled for a moment, not sure what to do, but then an idea bulb went off over her head (or at least, she imagined one doing so) and she reached into her many pockets for one of the many tools Dipper had passed his sister when the day began: Grunkle Ford's Emergency Medical Stick!

"Now, how does this work again?" she pondered to herself. When it became clear a greater threat had arrived to Gravity Falls, Grunkle Ford had run Mabel down the list of inventions he had that she might find herself needing to use during the crisis. The laser guns and explosives had been interesting enough, but Mabel had started to lose focus by the end, and she could barely remember the long list of functions the medical instrument could perform using... cute icicle binders, Stan cells, quick work aesthetic and pixie dust?

"Still, I might not know how it works, but I know how to make it work!" Mabel said loudly while pointing the instrument towards the wound. "...That sounded better in my head."

The medical instrument is basically a wand, a black cylinder with an orange cap on one end and a sliding orange switch positioned near the similarly colored cap, so by comfortably fitting the instrument in your hand the thumb naturally falls upon the switch. "Here goes nothing." Mabel remarked with equal parts uncertainty and anticipation, before using her thumb to slide back the switch. A spurt of thick, light blue but opaque gel launched out of the end of the wand and pasted itself onto the dripping wound in front of it. Despite the graveness of the situation, Mabel was taken by surprise by the Freudian nature of the device and couldn't manage to stifle her dirty giggle.

On the wound however, the gel quickly molded into place, slipping across to cover the break in the skin and hardening into a cap while underneath... well, even if the conditions had better lighting it'd be difficult to tell what was happening on a microscopic level, but the patient wasn't screaming in agony, so Mabel was counting it as a success. "HA! Chalk one up for Doctor Mabel, PHD!" she cheered, jumping up to her feet and pumping her fists in the air in the process. "PHD stands for 'Pretty Hot Dame', by the way!" she added, directing it towards her impromptu patient, who was showing noticeable improvement right away: their body was less shaky, and they'd stopped groaning in pain. In about a minute, the creature was trying to climb to its feet, to which Mabel extended a helping hand. "Feeling better big guy?" she asked, once the anomaly had climbed back to full height.

After a moment of wobbly standing, the creature leaned forward and embraced Mabel, almost bowling her over with its heavy, angled hug. "WOAH WOAH WOAH! Slow down there buddy, ever hear of personal space!?" She yelled out, trying to push the slimy, slick creature off of her. "You can't just go around shoving your affection onto other people and expect them to recip..." Mabel trailed off as the creature fumbled back from her, realizing it was favoring the healthy leg. "Oooooh, you still have trouble standing!" she said, comprehension dawning. "Well, uh, sorry about that." After a moment of awkwardness, the Pines twin began digging around in her pockets, and quickly pulled out the telescopic butterfly net. "Here, use this a crutch!" she offered, extending it to max length and doing a little pantomime crutch walk to demonstrate. The lumbering creature took it, and despite how much smaller the device looked next to it, managed to stabilize using the impromptu walking aid. Its face shifted, as if it was trying to smile through all the melt and deformity.

Mabel smiled back, a little grossed out by the full sight of the creature but genuinely happy she had made a friend. "...Can you, uh, speak? Can you tell me your name?" In response, the creature opened its mouth, and a noise that was simultaneously a hoarse whisper that danced on the edge of comprehension and a crashing, bubbling gurgle that brought to mind a polluted, sludge filled waterfall came out, echoing slightly in the cave walls. Mabel got that closed eyes, fake smile look on her face that came from watching someone try something and not succeed, one hand rubbing the back of her hair. "Well, that's alright, people tell me I have enough chatter for FOUR people!" she exclaimed, sounding confident and reassuring.

"Now, I'm looking for two other people who are... well, like me." Mabel asked, voice a little more serious now. "You know, shorter, lighter skin, hair, that kind of stuff?" The creature did seem to understand her, as its body language shifted into a withdrawn, more solemn state, but after a moment it nodded in confirmation. "Can you take me to them!?" She asked, suddenly more excited and desperate to find answers. After a moment's hesitation, her new friend nodded again, and began walking towards the still open passage in the wall, leading Mabel into the depths with its slow, hobbling gait.

* * *

"Pacifica, get ready for your first interaction with time travel, it's probably going to be confusing and ridiculous." Dipper whispered sideways to the blond girl in something of a weary tone, and Pacifica simply rolled her eyes and nodded.

"We come from a great distance forward away from this point in time." The Futurekind leader began to explain. "The world we come from is a harsh, brutal wasteland. We are the children of hot, corrosive seas which slowly wither our bodies away and are shared with monstrous, lurking predators."

Dipper was looking very closely at the Futurekind around him and nodded in comprehension. "Hairless sleek skin, bloated bodies that benefit from the support of water, and the wide collection of deformities... Yes, that makes sense, you come from warm, polluted oceans. I bet that loud clicking noise was echolocation, wasn't it?"

The speaker did not respond to Dipper's hypothesizing. "Records indicate the distant past possessed much more habitable conditions, and the means to travel the time vortex, via technology or sorcery, are potent and numerous in the world that spawned us." For the first time, the Futurekind speaker's voice intoned an emotion: rage. "But, the Time Baby and his cruel agents and lords control access to the vortex. The inhabitants of the squalid time are caged, forbidden from seeking better lives in the past or future zones. But that has changed!"

Dipper and Pacifica looked at each other, nervous understanding coming over both of their faces as they knew exactly what the Futurekind leader was speaking. "The Time Baby abruptly vanished one day in the future, its tyrannical society thrown to disarray. Our sorcery detected a great ripple traveling the vortex, indicating it had been killed in this time period. My people formed a great circle of magic to follow the ripple and arrive in a time location free of its oppression. Here, we will survive."

"What was so terrible about the future you needed to flee from it so badly?" Pacifica asked, genuine concern in her voice.

"The realm we have fled was scourged, toxic." The speaker described, though a notable stutter to his voice indicated he had context to contrast his time period with this one. "Poison leeches into the skin from water and air, and we must stifle our children to keep everyone fed. The light of the Red Orb scalds us, but it keeps away the withering death."

Curiosity peeked, Dipper looked around the room for any signs of a red orb. He finally noticed something when his eyes traveled across the body of water, as now that they had adjusted to the low light setting, he could see a spherical red light glowing from the bottom center of the underground pond.

"From what you've described, it sounds like the future has suffered a complete environmental collapse." Pacifica spoke up while Dipper was looking about. "But now that you're back in time, you can work to change that! We can work together to proliferate technologies that create a different future!" This was a particularly hitting concern for Pacifica, as one of her objectives in cleaning up the Northwest name was replacing the short sighted, wasteful industrial infrastructure they had used to squeeze out a few extra dollars with more sustainable technology.

"No." The speaker hissed. "The Futurekind are well versed in the duplicity and barbarity of outsiders, we will not become entangled in your kelp forest." He remarked, voice now much more threatening. "You will reveal to us how you came here, what is the nature of the "readings" which allowed you to discover us. You will show us how we may hide from the other inhabitants of this time location."

"And what happens when we tell you everything? You going to make us spill our guts figuratively and literally!?" Pacifica asked with an angry tone and expression, trying to cove up the wave of fear she just felt.

"It doesn't have to go down this way!" Dipper implored. "This time is different than where you've come from! Not only do you have a chance to do great things here, you have a responsibility to do them! Even a sliver of scientific knowledge from that far in the future could let us steer history onto a better course! You can't just hide down here in your own little bubble while the rest of the world burns around you!" The last sentence was spat out with a sudden burst of contempt. Dipper was rapidly becoming unsympathetic to the community of time travelers.

"The poaching of fish unsettles the school." The speaker responded while looking directly at Pacifica, having ignored Dipper's platitudes. "When you have told us everything, you will inhale our arcane mists, and our magic will remove your memory of this encounter. You will be returned to the surface world, unaware of what you have seen. There will be no search swarms or future investigations."

Dipper's eyes narrowed and his lips pursed at the threat of memory erasure, his entire demeanor becoming cold in response. "Fine." He unexpectedly spat out, drawing a surprised look from Pacifica. "Let's get this over with as quickly as possible. I'll need papers and writing utensils to give you everything you want, like a map. You'd like a map of the surrounding area, right? Help you avoid the outside world?"

"Yes... that would be ideal." The speaker answered, voice hissing with reservation.

"Then, like I said, I'll needs paper and writing utensils to make it happen, some way to record all the information down, you won't be able to hold onto it all by word of mouth." Dipper repeated, speaking with a calculating edge. "And I want one more thing. Tell me about the Red Orb."

"Why do you bother asking? Soon your memory of all that is in the caverns will be lost to you!" The speaker asked, an accusing tone to their voice.

"I'm curious." Dipper replied with a light, flippant tone. "I'm so curious I got myself in trouble, after all. It's my nature as a scientist. Even if I'm going to be mind wiped, the me that exists in this brief location of time will have known, and the thought of that satisfies me." He explained, leaning into the unique time related lexicon he had heard the speaker of the Futurekind employ. "Besides, I won't draw the maps for you if you don't tell me. You have nothing to lose since you're going to mind wipe me, and something to gain. So why not tell me?"

The speaker was silent for a long moment, mulling over Dipper's request. As silence reigned in the cavern, Mabel and the Futurekind she had befriended stumbled into the room down the tunnel. Mabel's first instinct was to yell out to her brother, but sensing her sucking in oxygen for a shout, her friend clamped one of their large, webbed hands over Mabel's mouth, silencing her for the moment. Though momentarily upset at this to the point she considered biting the Futurekind, she quickly managed to take in the tense atmosphere of the confrontation and remained quiet, observing the whole thing from a dark little corner of the room.

"The Red Orb is what sustains us." The Futurekind leader finally spoke up, implicitly meeting Dipper's demands. "When it is given the proper ritual its become hot, extremely hot, hot enough to burn away the withering death and turn the toxic sea into pure mist. We bring it here as our greatest treasure, and it preserves us still: These waters of the past chilled us to the death when we first arrived, but with the Red Orb they come warm again, as hot as the present seas but without the toxin and the death."

"As long as you're not an indigenous fish." Pacifica remarked sarcastically under her breath, looking sideways at a cooked cave fish on a stick.

"What does it use for fuel though, how do you keep it powered? What are its operating limitations?" Dipper asked, slowly becoming curious and excited as the instrument was described to them.

"The holy orb requires no fuel, and can sustain itself indefinitely. We keep to the rituals on a cycle so that the water does not become too hot for even us to handle." The speaker explained, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "It has done so for the entirety of the Futurekind's existence, since the first speaker united us around it in our past but this time location's future."

Dipper was genuinely amazed a taken aback now. "Potentially infinite heat generation, using either magic or, or some kind of advanced power system they think is magic... Please, you must allow us to study it!" This statement caused the crowd to grow a little more hostile, in a way that was obvious to everyone but Dipper, resulting in Pacifica tugging on his sleeve in an ignored gesture to calm down. "That kind of capacity for power generation, if reverse engineered, could avert the energy hunger of the human race that no doubt help create the future you fled from! Let us help you save your own future!"

"Outsiders will NEVER defile the Red Orb!" The Futurekind speaker spat back, true anger shining through their voice now. "We have safeguarded it against the kraken, the mutos and the time agents, and we will safeguard it from you as well!"

"What about the future!?" Dipper yelled back in exasperation. "I'm not asking you to sacrifice yourself and die down here! Bring the Red Orb to the surface, Grunkle Ford will find you a better home to live in while work out how your Orb works and how it can improve the world! You have an obligation to the world, to science, and the future! You can't just run away from tomorrow and hide in the dark, shortsightedly using something that could change the world for your petty personal benefit! That makes you no better than the people who destroyed the world you're feeling from!"

"TAKE THEM AWAY!" The speaker shouted, exploding into an open display of rage while wildly gesturing one arm towards a dark tunnel on the other side of the chamber, towards which Dipper and Pacifica's guards began shuffling them. "You are either very fortunate or very clever to have mentioned this... Grunkleford. If you have accomplices who would come looking for you, I have no choice but to employ the memory mist, no matter how much I would enjoy gutting you for your heresy. Of course, it is possible you are attempting to deceive me, but I cannot take the risk. You will uphold your end of the bargain, and then you will forget." As soon as the two known humans had been shuffled out of the room, the speaker turned to its followers. "Come, we must begin conjuring the energy for the memory ritual. We will retrieve the information implement needed by the outsiders when this is complete." At this command, the Futurekind began stepping into the pool of water and submerging themselves.

All except one, that is.

In the darkest, furthest corner of the cave room, the injured Futurekind and Mabel had watched the tense scene, Mabel in particular being prepared to leap into action against the mutants the moment they decided to hurt Dipper. However, with memory erasure remaining the strategy of choice for the Futurekind and the two humans being shuffled off unharmed for the moment, she calmed down slightly and was willing to indulge a more careful course of action. As the chamber filled with the splashing noises of the Futurekind submerging, Mabel looked up to her friend and spoke to him in a hushed tone. "I need you to take me to them." She whispered very softly. Though the Futurekind's alien, melted face was difficult to discern in the dark, Mabel could feel the reservation flowing off him. "Look, if you take me to them, I'll make sure they leave and never come back here, no fuss! That's what you all want, right?" After a moment of her giant friend remaining stock still, Mabel opened her eyes as wide as possible and put on her most adorable, pleading tone of voice. "Please?" she asked, using the magic word.

After a long moment, the Futurekind began to move, guiding her along the far walls of the cavern to avoid as much attention as possible. It would be slow, quiet going, and they'd probably have to wait for the four guards to double out and return to the pool, but Mabel was on her way to the rescue!

* * *

A ways down the tunnel, Dipper and Pacifica were shoved into an isolated rock chamber, barely big enough for the two of them, and then the guards shoved a large rock to block the entrance. They found themselves standing under a faint trickle of light, coming from above.

"They just... shoved a rock in front of the exit!" Dipper mused to himself in disbelief that something so simple had trapped him while pushing on the stone in a futile manner. It wasn't even a stone door, it was just a big rock that had been shoved into place by one of the guards! "I can even reach around this thing, there's just no door handle or keys to grab on the other side." The twin added while wiggling one of his arms through a gap in the stone walls. After a moment, he gave up and withdrew back to his prison, accidentally backing into Pacifica. "Sorry!" he squealed on reflex.

"It's alright Dipper, I know it was an accident." The blond responded rather kindly, though she was a little flustered at how small the cell they'd been shoved into was.

"No, I meant I'm sorry for getting you stuck here!" Dipper responded, but caught himself after a moment and tried to look away from Pacifica. "I mean, I am sorry I bumped into you like that, but I'm really sorry I got you stuck down here." he explained.

"Dipper, what have I said before about you blaming everything on yourself?" Pacifica responded. Before he could answer her, she continued on. "I know going on these adventures with you isn't always going to be pleasant, but I wouldn't trade them for anything. You've shown me amazing things, helped me do amazing things... good things that help people and will one day help the world, instead of just taking from it like every other Northwest. To think we had owned this town for generations and never even knew what was underneath it... and even worse, wouldn't have appreciated the true value of what's underneath it. You changed that when you entered my life, and you don't have to apologize to me for that."

They were very close now, not that they had much choice in the cramped cell, but Dipper was looking back at Pacifica now, who had put her hands on Dipper's shoulders to help reassure him. He looked back at her and smiled a very warm smile at her. "Thanks Pacifica." Dipper spoke, sounding genuinely relieved. "I might not be great at expressing it, but that means a lot to me... you, mean a lot to me." He was getting kind of nervous now, but also had an air of certainty to him, like he wanted to say these words despite the trepidation they caused him. "You're... you're one of the most supportive people I know in this town, in this world, right next to Great Uncle Ford. You never scoff or deride my ideas and I like sharing them because of that. You always hear me out and you trust me when I think something needs doing. There's... there's not a lot of people in the world like you, Pacifica."

"Mmmm, that's because the world is full of idiots." Pacifica remarked, leaning her head into Dipper's chest, causing him to unconsciously slide put his hand on the back of her head. "You made such a strong impression on me that night at the mansion, when you fought the ghost haunting the place... and the ghosts of the past, haunting me." Her face was getting warmer now, and her blond head turned to look up at Dipper's face. "And you've lived up to that impression ever since. You're brave, you're brilliant, and most of all, I think you're just." Pacifica explained, breathing admiration with every word. "And, well, you know what makes me laugh." she added a little hesitantly.

The two were getting even closer at this point. Dipper wasn't sure what was about to happen, but he felt calm and at ease despite the fact he was in a stone prison beneath the earth. He closed his eyes, felt his body move without any intentional commands from his mind... then jarred back to reality with lightning speed, whipping around to stand between Pacifica and the door when he heard the stone begin to grind against the cave floor. His eyes confirmed his ears' suspicion: the door was moving.

Acting on instinct, Dipper grabbed a nearby loose rock, gripping it tight and preparing to strike in defense of the other human in the cell with him. The stone had ground a quarter of the way open, suddenly caught on the floor, then heaved the rest of the way, clattering to the floor with a loud thud. With the portal to the wider cavern now open, the two prisoners stared straight ahead... and saw Mabel waiting for them on the other side, doing a sort of goofy "ta-da!" pose in that brightly colored homespun coat of hers.

The tension in the cavern deflated right, as both Dipper and Pacifica exhaled in relief as the tension relaxed out of their bodies. Mabel meanwhile yelled out "Dipper!" in excitement and jumped forward to hug him, making the improvised prison cell even tighter and squishing Pacifica between Dipper and the rock wall. The male twin took a moment to reciprocate the hug with his sibling, but did push her away sooner than she would have liked. "Mabel, excellent timing on the save! How did you know we were in trouble?"

"I went back to base camp and noticed both your safety ropes had been cut loose! That's when my patented Mab-danger senses knew something was up, so I went in looking for you guys and found this lovable lug!" Mabel explained, stepping back to let the healed Futurekind step into sight as she held her arms up in introduction and it waved awkwardly at the two humans it had been stabbed trying to capture earlier. Dipper grew a little apprehensive at the sight, while Pacifica was straight up scowling at Mabel by now, trying to adjust her clothes and catch her breath after being pressed against the rough rock wall.

"Mabel... why exactly is this Futurekind helping you?" Dipper asked cautiously.

Mabel tilted her head at a sharp angle in confusion over the name 'Futurekind' but figured Dipper couldn't be talking about anyone else, so she explained how she made her new friend. "Oh, I found him wounded at the end of the tunnel you two went down, and patched up his knee with Grunkle Ford's handy goo shooting gadget!" Near the end of the sentence, she whipped out the medical instrument in question to demonstrate.

Dipper had his eyes narrowed in analysis, tapping his chin while looking over the creature. It seemed a little bit nervous looking at him and Pacifica, but not nearly as nervous as you'd expect from someone who'd been stabbed in the kneecap and left to die by the same boy earlier that day. "Mabel... can your new friend talk at all?" Dipper asked after a little silent thinking.

Mabel looked back and forth between the two of them, pondering that herself. "I don't... really know actually. Hey big guy, can you talk?" she asked, casting, an anticipatory look towards the Futurekind. It seemed a little confused for a moment, so Mabel made a really exaggerated motion of moving her jaw open and closed with a blocky, slow movement while pointing to her tongue and saying "Talk, like this!" After a moment, the Futurekind opened its mouth and let out a loud clicking noise that hurt the ears of all three present humans.

"Dipper, this guy clearly isn't on the same level as the cult leader looking mutant speaking to us earlier." Pacifica spoke up, and Dipper nodded in response.

"Maybe they have some kind caste system, work by schooling behavior..." Dipper hypothesized a little wildly for a few moments, before composing himself. "Whatever. All that matters for the moment is escaping out of here." He looked over a Mabel's new friend, and in an affected tone of kindness stated "Hey, uh, thank your for all your help... big guy, but it's probably best you get back to your group now, so you aren't missed or anything."

The Futurekind didn't respond, but a moment later Mabel added on "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Get back to your people friend, and make sure to go easy on the leg while it heals!" and the large mutant turned about and began to trudge down the tunnel, which seemed to fascinate Dipper. "It obeyed her right away... Either way, we need to figure out an escape."

"Way ahead of you bro-bro." Mabel remarked with a grin while pulling the tried and true grappling hook out of her coat, eliciting a look of pleasant surprise from Dipper.

"You kept that old thing!? More to the point, you brought it with you again on this summer's trip!?" He asked, more surprised rhetorical questions than actual inquiries.

"You kept that hat, didn't you?" Mabel snarked back. "And of course I brought it back to Gravity Falls with me! It wasn't seeing much use in Piedmont... well, there was one time I used it to climb the school roof, but then they called the cops. Had to steal it back from evidence and everything." She stepped into the cell while pushing the other two out of the way, her brother gently, Pacifica a little more roughly. "Aaaaand, unless that healing goo Grunkle Ford made emits hallucinatory fumes, I can see a beam of light in this cell!" As she stepped in the cell and looked up to confirm what she'd been taking in since the rock slid back, the girl added "Thank goodness there is actually a gap letting in light up there, otherwise these would be the most boring hallucinations I've ever seen."

"Based on their choice of habitat and their sound based communication, I think the Futurekind might find light unpleasant, which explains why they made this their cell. It's impossible as an unassisted climb anyway." Dipper observed. "'But, with the grappling hook, we can run a rope to the surface and make our escape!"

"Yep! Ain't that just amazing!?" Mabel asked, grinning at the two other humans. Her grin became slightly smug and she wiggled her eyebrows a little before asking Pacifica "Of course, that assumes Miss Priss here is able to rock climb?"

Dipper seemed embarrassed that Mabel would make such a statement at a time like this and was ready to speak up and chide her, but Pacifica spoke first, a bit of a growl to her voice as she said "Trust me Mabel, I've spent these last few years having all kinds of educational adventures all over this town, I've learned a bit about climbing by now. Learned it from the best!" That last line was delivered while looking back at Dipper, but seeing how uncomfortable he'd become at their arguing, forcefully swallowed her tone and added "And... thank you Mabel. For coming down here and saving us." with a voice full of forced calm.

Before further arguments could consume the group, Dipper took control of the conversation. "Alright. Mabel, you're the grappling gun expert, shot a line to the surface and climb up it when you think it's secure. After that, you follow her up Pacifica. By then, I should be back and good to go." As he was giving orders, Dipper was sliding a very thick pair of safety gloves onto his hands.

"Be back, what are you talking about Dipper?" Mabel remarked, confused and worried.

"I'm going back to steal the Red Orb." Dipper replied with determination in his eyes and voice.

Mabel was aghast at the suggestion and quickly tried to talk him out of it. "Dipper, c'mon bro, surely it's not worth it going back to that monster den, what are you talking about?"

"I'm afraid it is." He remarked in a self-assured tone. "If the power generation capabilities of that thing are anywhere near what the Futurekind's, albeit folklorish and superstition tinted story, suggest it is, we have to acquire it and find a way to apply it to large scale power production."

"But... but, don't the Futurekind need it? And why are they called the Futurekind!?" Mabel questioned back in exasperation.

"They're time travelers." Pacifica remarked flatly in response to Mabel's second question while Dipper answered her first.

"The world needs it more, we can't let such a discovery go to waste in an isolated cavern like this, held in the covetous hands of a small group of selfish religious fanatics!" he explained, becoming slightly vexed at the idea of being denied such a discovery.

"Dipper, I... we can't just..." Mabel was fumbling over her words. Every fiber of her being wanted the three of them to just escape this damp, dark cave and never think about this coven of weird mutants again, but Dipper wanted to charge right back into the lion's den. Pacifica spoke up a moment later, causing Mabel to turn her head and glare straight at her, disgust and contempt boiling inside at the blond's word choice.

"Dipper, if you think it has to be done... let's do it." Pacifica said, encouraging Dipper to continue this crusade of his. What hurt Mabel most however, was Dipper's reaction to this: The argumentative posture he held against his sister faded in response to Pacifica's words, becoming a sort of happily self-confident at her encouragement. The female twin's shoulder sagged in defeat, and with an exhaled sigh conceded to Dipper's wishes.

"Just, be safe back there, okay bro-bro?" Mabel asked of her brother, who in response shot her the most confident smile she'd ever seen from her twin in her entire life.

"Hey, if Bill couldn't kill me, I don't think these pinniped mutants stand a chance." He said simply, before turning about a disappearing down the tunnel, leaving the girls to begin the escape.

Dipper moved slowly down the stone tunnel, stepping lightly both to avoid alerting anyone and give Mabel and Pacifica more time to escape. He had inferred the Futurekind probably couldn't see very well but he had to be wary of their hearing, though he wasn't sure how well it functioned above water. When he finally reached the pool room, it was empty at first glance, but after creeping closer to the water body, Dipper could see they were all submerged, standing rock still on the bottom of the cave pool. As he got closer, he began to hear it: a high pitched crackling, radiating weakly from the water's edge. It would actually be a short swim out to the orb, Dipper calculated, and so he removed his upper layers and stepped into the water.

The sound was so much louder in the water. Ritual chanting to prepare the memory mist, it had to be. The Futurekind continued to still rock still in their positions, mouths open in a perfectly circular shape as the clicking filled the water. They looked so much more natural submerged, Dipper thought to himself. He swam forward through the water, keeping the glowing red orb in the center of his vision, refusing to let his goal be compromised. Still, the clicking was so loud down here...

Dipper nearly screamed out as something floated past his vision, which would have cost him all his saved up breath. What was it? A floating corpse? No matter, don't stop, must complete the goal! The waters continued to darken, the clicking overwhelms, dark shapes swimming in the depths and crawling across the sea floor, which seemed so deep, lost in darkness...

Dipper caught himself gazing into the abyss, and endless darkness as the sea floor shrank out of sight. When he looked up again, the Red Orb was so close, just out of reach. Suddenly, the water blinked. The Red Orb was the iris of a great, singular eye glaring with hatred as the sea became awash with bright yellow light. Dipper refused to give in to fear. He stretched one arm out and ripped the eye apart, plundering his objective as the yellow light burned red in fury as the butchered eye leaked and bled across the ocean, soiling the depths and poisoning the riotous assembly of life that inhabited them. The ever-present clicking took a new, horrible sound sounding like a distorted scream of pain and rage.

Dipper swam from the corrupted depths as quickly as possible, life shifting into strange, toxic, wonderful and horrific shapes around him as he swam, the clicking being all he could hear now. He finally broke the water and it all went away, the silence of the bare, bleak cavern ringing in his ears. Dipper spent a moment catching his breath on the edge of the water before reaching for his discarded clothes, clutching the Red Orb (smaller than he expected) in one gloved hand. This proved a mistake, for by the time he went for the vest, a slimy hand reached from the water to grab his ankle.

The young man yelped in surprise, but his instincts took over. Pulling the vest closer to himself, the free hand went straight for the pocket he always kept his survival knife in. The hand from the depths was trying to drag him back in, having yanked him a few inches, but without hesitation Dipper plunged the survival knife into the hand. The blade sunk deep, spewing more foul smelling vital liquids across the cold stone, and the hand withdrew into the depths without a sound that Dipper could hear. Though he lost the knife, the boy didn't care; when he looked back to aim the blade, he could see the pool bubbling riotously, which could only mean one thing with the Red Orb in his hand, on dry land.

Hastily throwing the vest on, Dipper took off running down the tunnel.

Back at the cell, Mabel had completed her ascension and was watching Pacifica make her way up the rope, the two trading barbs all the while. As the blond reached about the halfway point, a horrible, unwanted thought entered Mabel's head: What if I cut her down, right here?

Mabel was immediately disgusted with herself, wondering how she could possibly think such a thing, but the suggestion proved upsettingly difficult to banish from her mind. The survival knife she'd been given felt heavier and heavier in her pocket. Mental images of her rival turned friend turned rival plunging down and cracking her neck on the harsh stone played over and over, to the point Mabel lost track of her ongoing banter and simply shut her eyes to try and clear her head. _"Then..."_ her subconscious seemed to be saying to her _"You'll have Dipper all to yourself again..."_

 _"Dipper!"_ Mabel screamed in her head. _"If I cut the rope Dipper wouldn't be able to escape!"_ she thought to herself, repeating the idea of losing her twin over and over again to drive back the thoughts, successfully this time. By the time she opened her eyes, clear of the ruthless suggestion, Pacifica had reached the top of the rope and was extending a hand to be let up, which Mabel hastily grabbed with a forced smile. "Okay, so now we just wait for..."

The rope tugged and a grunt of effort came from down below, and when the two girls looked down Dipper was climbing straight up, in a display of physical skill that baffled Mabel. "Pull the rope up, they're right behind me!" He yelled up the rope, and after trading expressions, Pacifica and Mabel did so, speeding Dipper's ascent, but not fast enough to prevent a rough weight from catching on to the end. None of the three could see what the source of the weight was (the girls couldn't see past Dipper's body, and Dipper didn't have time to look down) but there was no doubt it was one of the creatures.

As Dipper climbed as fast as his arms could take him, Mabel had an idea. "Pacifica, get ready to grab him!" Mabel ordered, pulling one hand away from the rope to search her pockets. Pacifica looked like she wanted to scream at Mabel but stayed focused on the rope, transferring her angry strength into saving Dipper. When the male twin finally reached the top of the rope after what seemed like forever, Pacifica used both hands to pull him out of the hole into the sunlight while Mabel swiped the rope with the survival knife. Dipper climbed to safety while the rope fell into darkness. Moments later, a heavy, wet splatting noise of impact and crushing rose from the hole and sickened the ears of all three.

The final climber collapsed onto the hill, completely uncaring it was harsh rocks. "Ahhhhh, my arms burn so much..." he moaned, out of breath. "Pacifica, front left pocket, middle section please." In response to his request, the blond girl approached the downed boy and reached for his chest. "WAIT!" he suddenly yelled out, having forgot something. "Use the gloves." he added apologetically, and after transferring them from his hands to hers, Pacifica removed the Red Orb from his vest pocket. "Thank you Pacifica. Even with all the padding around that pocket, that thing was burning a hole in my nipple." He responded, somewhat deliriously.

Despite the dire situation they'd all just escaped from, the two girls broke into laughter at that statement after a few moments of being unable to process it, and Dipper joined them soon after. Somehow, after the absurdity of the whole day, that was the weirdest thing about all this, and that just cracked them up.

The three rested for some time on the hill, not even able to worry about the Futurekind coming after them, though in the back of his mind Dipper was pretty sure they wouldn't come out into such strong sunlight. After some laughing, resting, and canteen passing, the group set off for the van. The Red Orb had to be stored at the Shack right away, the rest of the base camp could be cleaned up on a later trip. However, after some conversation, the twins decided to visit base camp one last time to collect Mabel's drawings while Pacifica, still wearing the protective gloves, stored the Red Orb in the van. The group had split a short distance ago, and the twins were making small talk as they walked.

"So, this is a pretty normal day in the life of the new Dipper Pines?" Mabel was asking, a little awkwardly, but with a projected air of cheer and interest.

"This case was a little unusual." Dipper admitted. "I haven't seen time travel since... well, since the first summer here."

"Well, good thing you had your sister back for your battle against the time traveling mole people, eh Dippen-Dot?" Mabel asked, spinning the grappling hook (would need to be supplied with more rope, but was otherwise still functional) about and putting on her best radio announcer voice. "I'm surprised you don't get in trouble like this more often!"

"First off Mabel, they're not mole like in the slightest. More like some kind of humanoid pinniped..." Dipper responded, raising a finger in correction. "And secondly... yes, you did help me out quite a lot back there. The grappling hook made for a very effective escape rope out of there."

Mabel was feeling giddy at Dipper's praise. They were Mystery Twins again, but more importantly, Dipper needed her just as much as she needed him! "Yeah, maybe we should make a habit of..."

Whatever Mabel was going to suggest next was literally cut short as the two arrived back at the base camp, and the fully dressed tracker jumped out from behind a rock, slashing madly at the two with their sword, but cutting only the air between them, the bundle of nerves built up over hours of staking out having harmed their coordination. Mabel let out a surprised yelp while jumping away from the sword, while Dipper, despite being equally surprised, walked backwards at a slower pace, eyes scanning and hands feeling for a weapon.

"As if we haven't dealt with enough freaks today..." Dipper muttered under his breath.

"YOU ARE INTERRUPTING MYSTERY TWINS TIME!" Mabel screamed out in anger.

The assassin honed in on Dipper, driving him backwards towards a rock ledge, the blade getting closer all the time. Dipper attempted to jump sideways to escape being penned in but the flash of the sword followed him. His dodge fumbled as a slick of blood burst on his right leg and the young scientist hit the ground clumsily. The assassin drew closer, raising the blade for a killing plunge, but was rocked off balance as one of the fold up chairs slammed into their skull at damn near maximum force.

"STAY AWAY FROM MY BROTHER YOU BASTARD!" Mabel screamed, drawing back for another chair shot and landing it. She went for a third, but this time the sword was in action, slicing clean through the sword and destroying it, leaving Mabel holding to metal nubs.

"Okay that is NOT NORMAL!" Dipper yelled in surprise, mental state being worn down by the day. Without fear however, Mabel seamlessly continued her attack charging straight at the assassin and tackling them off the rocky edge it had tried to trap Dipper against, going down with him in the process. "MABEL!" Dipper screamed in shock, trying to climb to his feet but finding his fresh wound made the effort clumsy. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the bug catching kit while trying to hastily stabilize his legs.

Mabel and the assassin rolled down the rocky hill in a tumble of violence and punches, the metal blade fortunately dropped in the initial tackle. When they hit solid, grassy ground, Mabel was on top, and slammed a fist directly into the covered head below her, generating a satisfying crunch before she stood up and ran for the woods. The assassin, body language conveying anger, snatched up their sword, which had tumbled downhill shortly after the two fighters, and ran off after her.

Up at base camp, Dipper had moved to the bug catching jar and unscrewed the lid, and was slowly taking it apart. He stuffed the jar's filter paper into the upturned, unscrewed lid to create a little nest, and was carefully pouring the remaining contents on the ground, until all that was left was the crystals. The plaster, sawdust, and Mabel's lone insect catch, now long dead, crunched underfoot as Dipper worked his science at the table. Once the crystals were carefully dumped into the paper nest, he brought up his water canteen up and gently sprinkled the remaining water on the white below him, causing a small burst of fumes, which was careful not to breathe, to rise up. Satisfied with his improvised weapon, Dipper set off, recklessly climbing down the slope on his wounded leg.

Meanwhile, the case had taken Mabel and the assassin into the forest. The girl had led the hunter on a merry chase, but even Mabel was starting to run out of energy after the long day she'd had, currently hiding behind a wide tree and trying to breathe as quietly as possible despite how much she needed more air. Then, a voice rang out through the forest. Having never hear him before, Mabel was slightly confused, until she realized it could only be the human.

"Your blood is warm, human, rich with salt! You cannot escape my blade, as it thirsts for the satisfying taste of someone so... established, so secure... so fattened!" They called out, voice getting closer with every moment.

Mabel bit her tongue to avoid yelling a rebuttal to the fattened comment, but with growing distress realized she was bleeding. Her heavy coat covered most of it up, but a small but steady trickle of blood was dripping down her left pant leg. _"Knicks and scratches on that stupid rock hill."_ she thought to herself. _"I just have to hope Dipper got back to the van okay."_ With a deep, calming breath, she pulled her survival knife from the pocket she'd stuck it in, gripped it with both hands, and breathed very deep. The footsteps were very close now, the menacing crunch of boots on foliage.

Having nothing else to depend on but sound, Mabel sprung to her feet and spun around the corner at what she hoped was the best possible moment, knife held up high in one hand and stabbing down. It sunk into flesh and elicited a high pitched scream ( _"Score one for me!"_ Mabel cheered in her head) but it was undercut somewhat by the fact she'd only managed to find purchase in her attacker's shoulder, though it did seem to be his right shoulder. It was hard for Mabel to tell, she was only able to see the results of her work for a moment before a gloved hand slammed into her face, punching her dead on and sending the human crashing to the floor as her eyes went unfocused and her teeth bit down on the sides of her mouth.

Even with her dazed senses, Mabel could tell the assassin was looming over her fallen form, sword raised to cleave her in two by all indications, but the most familiar scream of protective rage in the world soon filled her ears. Dipper came tearing up behind the would be killer, attacking from behind and using one hand to shove the metal lid of the insect jar under the hunter's cowl and into their face, while the other hand clamped down on their dominant hand, trying to hard to restrict the sword movements that his sinking nails drew small amounts of blood.

Dipper held an expression of absolute fury as he wrestled with the attacker, determined to hold the metal lid in place while the assassin tried to regain his sword arm and stab the boy to death. However, with every moment of the fight, the assassin seemed to be losing strength at a rapid pace, attempts to break free becoming clumsy, knees sagging and posture slipping. In what seemed like an incredibly short amount of time, the hunter seemed to lose all muscle strength whatsoever and collapsed to the forest floor. One the assassin was flat on his back, Dipper pulled his hand out from the mask and brought both hands to the top of the black cover, pressing down on the metal lid through the material. After another shockingly short amount of time, Dipper's breathing slowed and his expression relaxed from pure rage to intense worry, and he grabbed the hunter's wrist, holding a thumb in place to check for a pulse and finding none.

The two twins stared at each other, silently contemplating the act, taking longer than the actual killing did.

 _"This is becoming absurd."_ Mabel thought to herself, coming down from the adrenaline rush. _"You make ONE deal with the devil and all of sudden death stalks you at every turn! ...No, though. I can't blame myself for this one. He wanted to kill Dipper and me, this is the most reasonable death I'm partially responsible for. You hear that conscience, this one doesn't count!"_

Dipper, meanwhile, had gone into full analytic mode rather than muse on the nature and responsibility of death. He was quickly feeling and checking all of the hunter's pockets, finding numerous trail provisions and survival equipment, but remained puzzled by the lack of a gun. Once every pocket was exhausted, Dipper moved to the still concealed face, preparing for the release of built up potassium cyanide fumes peeling back the mask would cause by stepping back and blocking his nose and mouth with a dusk mask he had prepared for the expedition. When the mask rolled back, he gaped with surprise, having entertained a number of possibilities but none like what was before him.

The creature that had hunted the Mystery Twins was a strange, bald skinned being with a lumpy but perfectly rounded head, making it strongly resemble a potato. Its skin, despite the lumpy shape caused but sub-dermal deformities, had the smooth texture of a human baby, and its mouth was without teeth. Of course, Dipper noticed those later, since its most obvious feature was the three eyes that adorned its face, the top most of which had the image of gold bricks tattooed into the skin around it, creating a crude depiction of Bill Cipher.

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 **Author's Notes: Hello, I wanted to thank everyone who still followed this story despite the extremely long wait for this chapter. I increased the length of content here as an apology for the delay, but unfortunately can't promise that the next one will be out any faster. I hope you all enjoyed this enough to make it down this far.**


	15. Down To Earth: Chapter 4

**Author's Notes: High everyone, massive apologies for the long lengths this chapter took to come out, lot of things going on for me that slowed it down, but I'm confident you didn't come here to read me whine. I do want to make two things about this story known however: The direction the story is going to take from here onwards is always what I had planned, and the long wait between updates was not due to any kind of rewriting on my part. Secondly, a later section of this chapter is fairly gruesome, so you have been warned. The story will warn you in advance when the bloody stuff is approaching and it lasts for one complete scene before ending.**

 **Right, on with the show.**

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As soon as Dipper and Mabel stumbled back to the parked van, leaning on each other's shoulders, Pacifica instantly began dialing back to the Mystery Shack to call for help. Soon after that, the three teenagers stumbled into the vehicle and sealed the doors, taking shelter in the spacious cargo hold. A quick explanation was offered up while Dipper went digging for the emergency kit stored in the vehicle to staunch his and Mabel's bleeding.

Then, after what was a much shorter period of time than the time period it had taken the three to drive the van from the Mystery Shack to this location, Stan's automobile came to a skidding stop on the dirt road, throwing up huge amounts of rubble. The older pair of twins jumped out of the vehicle before the engine had even died, both with furious expressions on their faces and weapons on hand. However, the expressions softened and the weapons stowed when the three teenagers stepped out the van, replaced by a big group hug.

"Thank goodness you kids are safe!" Stan exclaimed as the hug broke up, genuine relief pouring out of his voice. "Now, where's the bastard who tried hurting you, I'm gonna make him wish he was getting killed by someone much less emotionally unstable than me!"

"It's... it's dead." Dipper breathed out, getting a surprised look from Pacifica and Stan. He had stood up to enter the hug, but sat down on the tailgate of the van after, his leg was still injured. "It had nearly killed me with a sword, but Mabel tackled it off a cliff and punched it all the way down..."

"...But it had me on the run right after that, until Dipper burst in out of nowhere and, uh, bro what exactly did you do to that thing anyway? I was too busy trying a sample mix of forest dirt and my own blood at the time to see exactly." Mabel cut in, talking excitedly about her brother's exploit.

"I had... gotten the cyanide crystals out of the insect catching jar and used some of the canteen water to vaporize them." He explained in a voice that suggested the whole chain of events hadn't fully set in with him yet. "After that, I stuck it under the veil it was wearing and let the fumes overpower it." After a particularly deep breath, he added "We got really lucky cyanide poisoned that thing as well as it would have a human."

"That was still some quick thinking Dipper." Pacifica complemented, rubbing her hands on his back to try and calm the boy down.

"I take it the attacker was some kind of creature then?" Ford asked with a concern, having picked up on Dipper's word choices. "Right, luckily I brought some scanning equipment that should help us figure out if there are more out there." With that, he began walking towards the car. "Assume we are still at risk!" He called back to the group in a cautioning tone.

Stan meanwhile, had gotten down on one knee and clasped a hand on Dipper's shoulder. "Hey, kid, look at me." He said, usual brusque tone severely cracked at this point. "Don't beat yourself up over what happened back there. You did what you had to do, to protect yourself, and more importantly, your family."

Dipper looked up at his Great Uncle, a small frown on his face that quickly turned into a small, grateful smile. "It's alright Grunkle Stan, I know that. I'm just a little winded at this point, it's been a long day and I've lost some blood." He explained, while gesturing to the red stained wraps around his leg. "Whoops, time flies. Should probably change those..."

"I'll go get more!" Pacifica remarked eagerly, going over to the emergency kit while Grunkle Stan knitted his eyebrows in concern and a little confusion. Dipper's tone was unexpectedly casual and accepting of the situation, and he didn't know what to make of that. Mabel had a similar look on her face, where her smile had seemingly frozen in place and become much more artificial for a sharp moment, before she adopted a much more neutral expression.

"Hmm, residual arcane radiation suggests trans-dimensional travel consistent with one arrival, and background levels are normal, but I still need to examine the attack." Ford cut the air with his explanation, having examined a large scanning tool in the back of Stan's car. "Stanley, I need you to stay here, guard Dipper, Pacifica, and our vehicles. Mabel, I need you to lead me back to the attacker and help me examine them."

"You got it Grunkle Ford!" The girl responses before anyone else objected, springing to her feet. She turned around and gave Stan a quick look. "And before you say anything, Dipper needs to stay off that foot and Pacifica doesn't know the way. Don't worry, Grunkle Ford will keep me safe!"

His argument melted off the old man's face, prompting Stan to simply remark "I'm counting on YOU to keep him safe pumpkin, don't mess that up!" with a sarcastic grin on his face before the two departed back into the woods, leaving him alone with Dipper and Pacifica.

The two disappeared into the treeline, leaving the three to recover behind them. The trip into the woods was quiet to begin with, Mabel only speaking up to provide directions, but soon enough Ford was asking her more about the adventure she, Dipper and Pacifica had just had, resulting in him receiving a concise but accurate recounting of the day's events. The two were becoming more relaxed and comfortable as they went further and further without discovering any opposition.

"...and Dipper most likely still has the sphere at the van. I kinda lost track of things after we were attacked but it isn't like him to lose things." Mabel concluded, having related the story at length.

"I concur, Dipper is an astute and organized young man, I'm sure he wouldn't misplace such an incredible find, even under these stressful circumstances." Grunkle Ford agreed. "This really is quite the find you all made, by the way. Very good work."

Things were quiet between them for a moment, Mabel looking at the forest floor while Ford pressed forward, eyes bright while she was downcast. After a moment, she spoke up. "Grunkle Ford, did we do the right thing stealing this? I mean, those cave dwellers were weird, but they really needed it..."

"Yes, but the world needs it more Mabel." Ford replied matter of factly. "However many people you might have hurt by acquiring this object and bringing it into the wider world will be greatly outdone by the benefits it stands to offer the entire human species. Imagine the sheer amount of cheap, clean energy we can generate by fully understanding a magical object seemingly able to produce heat out of the arcane, or even better, if we develop the means to replicate it!"

Mabel turned her head sideways at Grunke Ford's explanation, a worried look still on her face. "Are you gonna make more neato light-bulbs out of that thing?" she asked after wrestling the question around in her throat. She regretted in instantly. _"That was real brilliant sounding Mabel, good job."_ she thought to herself.

Ford took the question with a minimal reaction though, mentally chastising himself for getting ahead of the twin who hadn't been studying alongside him for a few years. "I won't go into all the fine technical details Mabel, but in short as long as you have a method of sustainability heating water you can create energy. Different types of fuel, from oil to nuclear material to natural gas, operate similar enough turbine mechanisms to generate electricity. All of them can be used to make water hot, hot water becomes steam, and then the steam turns a rotor to run a generator."

Mabel nodded her head in time with Grunkle Ford's explanation, getting the basic picture. _"How does steam turn a whole generator though? All it does is cloud up the bathroom and mess with my hair."_ She thought to herself. _"Still, basic picture, hot water equals electricity oooohhhh, this makes more sense now."_

Ford smiled a little. "That's the look of the dawning of realization on your face, by the way." He said in a congratulatory tone. "So, different fuels have various downsides, with fossil fuels like coal and oil being the most deleterious to human health. Big picture environmental concerns aside, living within the waste output range of a fossil fuel power planet has severe, well documented negative health impacts on human beings, amounting to shorter, sicker lives and higher occurrence rates of cancers and other serious conditions. If the discovery you three made today is able to replace even one coal electrical plant, it will save upwards of thousands of people from early deaths and long term poor health, potentially reaching over generations." Ford came to stop at this point, leaning down to put a reassuring hand on Mabel's shoulder. "I hope that helped you feel better about your actions."

The female Pines twin didn't seem fully convinced however. "Well, that all makes sense Grunkle Ford, but it still seems like kind of a raw deal for the futurekind..."

Stanford got a bit of a steely expression, and while his tone hardened he did his best to remain warm sounding towards Mabel. "They should have come forward with their amazing technology." He said dispassionately. "If their description of the future they escaped from is accurate, they should know better than anyone the importance of building a better world, and they should have wanted to avert the fate that befalls mankind in their timeline!" He felt himself getting a little angry now, and stood up, turning his back to Mabel as he gazed into the deep forest. For her part, Mabel could tell immediately he wasn't angry at her, so she watched him with fearless interest.

"To have something of so much value to the world, to the human species, and to do nothing but selfishly cradle it to oneself in the dark, wasting its potential... it's deplorable." Ford spoke, an edge of disappointment getting into his voice. "Technology, resources, people, even raw knowledge... it has to be let free to achieve its full potential!"

Her great uncle's newest conversation train sent a rock sinking into Mabel's gut. _"He... he's talking about Dipper, isn't he!?"_ she thought to herself, feeling guilt and anger boiling her in simultaneously. _"I was never suffocating towards Dipper, I... I just..."_ Mabel's mind was scrambling to assemble a counterargument she could yell out loud, but the only thing she could hear in her head was her heart screaming out _"I need my brother back for me! I don't care about the rest of the world!"_ which was something she knew she had to bury, keep away from her family.

However, Mabel's troubled silence prove fortuitous for her, as Grunkle Ford resumed speaking with something she hadn't anticipated. "And I lost sight of that." All of her inner turmoil went silent as she paid close attention to the old man, listening intently. "Bill filled me with such a terrible, all reaching paranoia that I fled into the depths, made my knowledge deliberately unhelpful and scattered it to the wind. I was ruled by fear, and in my fear I denied mankind what it rightfully deserved." He turned back to his great niece, a smile on his face. "That's why I'm so grateful to you and Dipper. You two dug up what I had thoughtlessly buried, and with Dipper's further help I'm able to pull my work out of the dust and the darkness, and have it carried into the light of the world."

 _"Maybe things should have stayed buried."_ The stray thought exploded into Mabel's mind without any of her own input, and she instantly put all her mental energy into strangling it, despite how well the ripples it left resonated over her mindscape. After what was an eternity in mental time, she put on a smile a moment later in the real world. "Is that going to include the mysterious attacker we came here to pick up?" she asked sweetly.

Ford's expression contorted into something resembling a surprised owl, as he suddenly expressed awareness of his surroundings. "Yes, of course. I'm sorry I went off on a bit of a tangent, we're still on course to its location, correct?"

Mabel just smiled wider and took the lead. "We're actually really close, it's just past this tangle of bushes!" she explained, finally letting the smile drop when she got ahead of her great uncle.

Back at the van, things had gone quiet after Mabel and Ford had left, Stan keeping his eyes peeled on the forest while Pacifica mildly fussed over Dipper's injury, even if nothing else could be done with it. Eventually, Stan's attention drifted to the two teenagers, focusing in on Dipper in particular. The kid, quite frankly, concerned him. As much as he intentionally left himself out of the loop in regards to his brother and great nephew's science adventures, he still noticed when Dipper came back from the woods with claw marks on his legs or emerged from the basement with mild electrical burns.

"Hey Dipper..." He spoke with a mildly uncertain tone, trying to pick his words carefully going forward. "When we get everything back to the Shack, how about you take a break from all this, at least until the leg heals? Me and Ford could go back into the portal instead, and I'll introduce these other worlds to the New Jersey school of boxing, eh!?" Stan had gained more confidence the longer he spoke, and ended his sentence by patting the pocket Dipper knew he kept his brass knuckles in.

Dipper looked up at his grunkle, a little surprised but appreciative. "That's great of you to offer Grunkle Stan, but I want to see this through to the end. Bill's done too much to me and the people I care about. I want to be the one to kill him." He spoke intensely, but lightened up a moment later and the rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Of course, it'll probably be Grunkle Ford who does him in eventually. I'll be happy just knowing he's gone."

Hearing something like that come from his great nephew actually made Stan balk a little, though he kept his expression well under control. "That's... that's a bit of a grim thing to say Dipper." he said in a soft tone, grappling with it himself.

"Well, it's just what you always tried to teach me: if the world hits me, hit back." Dipper replied starkly, causing Stan to wince a little.

"I'm not a good role model kid!" Stan blurted out, feeling a heavy mix of emotions as it struck him just how thoroughly Dipper had internalized his lessons from the very first summer. "And I was talking about, you know, real stuff! Like muggers or cheating bosses or cops or broads who just want your money! Not, you know, all of this!" He explained, while sweeping his hands about as if to hold all the mysteries of Gravity Falls in his hands as an example. "Dipper, why would you ever want to live the kind of lives me and Ford went through!?"

Dipper seemed surprised that this was the direction the conversation had taken, but quickly composed an answer none the less. "I'm not living the kind of life you lived at all Grunkle Stan, and with Grunkle Ford's guidance I'm traveling down a much safer, better known version of his path, the path of working to improve mankind through uncovering knowledge."

The old conman rolled his eyes at Dipper's reasons, but tried to do so below the young man's notice, an attempt he failed at. He then let out a defeated sigh and attempted to say in a nonchalant and dismissive tone. "Fine, fine! I'm only trying to keep the promise I made to your parents that first summer to keep you and your sister safe, but clearly you're a grown man at this point!"

It was at this point that Pacifica, who had until now stayed out of the conversation due to the general awkwardness of a non-family member entering into it, cut in with "That's a rich sentiment coming from someone who nearly killed Dipper and Mabel due to his own lack of reading comprehension!"

Dipper seemed surprised by Pacifica's sudden barb, but Grunkle Stan shot back before he could try to mediate. "This is a FAMILY discussion blondie, keep your stuck up nose out of it!"

"It's all about the family for you, isn't it? Except for the time you decided to risk killing every living member of your family with the original portal, on top of the rest of the world, just so you could clear your conscious of your own mistake!" Pacifica responded, quick as a whip. Dipper, who had turned his head towards the old man to say something to him, practically got whiplash turning back towards Pacifica to speak to her, but felt the words die in his throat as a chill went down his spine.

"How do you know about that?" Grunkle Stan asked in a low, cold voice that conveyed by tone alone he already knew the answer while narrowing his eyes. "Dipper, we all agreed that was to never leave the family."

The young Pines twin felt a flash of nervousness at his grunkle's uncharacteristic anger at this subject, but managed to swallow it within seconds in order to deliver a calm, straightforward defense of himself and his friend. "We did agree to that Grunkle Stan, but as the years went on, me and Ford resumed work on developing the portal technologies and Pacifica was becoming increasingly helpful to us. It was prudent for her to understand everything about the project." He explained curtly and calmly. Then, with a more sly tone of voice, added at the end "Come on Grunkle Stan, YOU of all people are going to get on someone's case for breaking a promise and dishonest behavior?"

That last one, admittedly, had been a minor fib. While many of the long and emotional conversations Dipper and Pacifica had had over the years he'd been in town as Ford's apprentice were about bringing her up to speed with the phenomenon of the two scientists' efforts to study them, the specific conversation about the opening of the portal and the return of the author had been a cathartic vent about Dipper's lingering fear of death and a deeply buried sense of betrayal towards his sister he always hated himself for carrying.

Stan had clearly been prepared to argue back, mouth open and index finger raised to pontificate, but Dipper's reference to his lack of any kind of moral high ground visibly deflated the old con artist. "Well, you got me there kid." he conceded graciously. Everyone sat in awkward silence for a few moments, not having any fresh arguments on hand, and further attempts to formulate more words were thankfully disrupted when Ford and Mabel emerged from the tree line hauling a corpse behind them, which fortunately defused the awkward conversation.

* * *

The laboratory beneath the shack was always kept cool to preserve the samples and experiments stored down there, but on this day the temperature was even lower than normal. Additional freezers had been carried into the general purpose room, a spacious square shaped chamber with a large, solid table built into the floor in the exact center upon which many things could be placed for whatever needed to be done that day. The extra freezer space was kept chill by the dizzying number of outlets along the walls, into which the devices were plugged. All of them sat on the floor however, as the objects which they'd been brought in to provide exclusive storage to were still deposited on the center slab, still assembled in the form of the now dead attacker from the woods.

While the three adventurers rested and recovered from the attack in the woods after a much safer drive back by the older twins, Ford had gone about prepping the body for dissection. Radiation scans had been run, the body had been bathed in anti-bacterial and anti-viral solutions, curse breakers were cast, and finally an X-Ray had been used on the corpse to ensure nothing explosive had been sewn into its guts. In the end, everything had come back clean, but even the slightest hint of Bill Cipher meant one must be prepared for all manner of nasty tricks.

Then, once the safety checks were done, the body had been laid out on the slab, and all needed supplies had been arranged around the general purpose room, Ford went upstairs and asked Dipper if he'd like to assist him with the dissection.

"Sure thing Grunkle Ford, I'll be ready to assist in about twenty minutes." He responded simply, a hint of enthusiasm to his voice even, causing all the surprised and somewhat disgusted expressions in the room to shift from the older scientist to the younger one.

"Uh, bro-bro, does dissection mean something else around here?" Mabel had asked, trying to keep a jokey tone about her despite how unexpectedly uncomfortable Ford's blunt announcement had made her. "You know, something other than taking the pointy bits to a dead body and taking it apart like a LEGO kit you're done with?"

"That's a very crude description Mabel, but no, dissection doesn't mean anything unusual here. It still means taking apart a once living organism to learn more about it." Dipper answered her with a somewhat flat tone to his voice, having already gotten out of his bed to slip on a thick laboratory coat.

"The only thing you should be learning about right now is the other side of the pillow Dipper!" Grunkle Stan spoke up, concern managing to cut through his usual gruff tone. "It's... it's too soon for you to be running around doing science when you should be getting rest."

"I've been in bed for seven hours Grunkle Stan, I'm ready to get back out there by now." He responded, tone a little dismissive before hardening with resolve. "Besides, this could be the advance scout for another attack on us by Bill. We need to learn everything we can about the situation as quickly as possible."

Stan let out a sigh, sinking back into the chair he'd been sitting it, before waving and speaking dismissively. "Fine, you two go do whatever you got to do. Just remember not to dump those bloody lab coats in the main washing machine again!" He yelled, before mumbling "All those fancy college degrees and he never learned how to get out a good blood stain..." to himself.

* * *

Now, the two scientists were downstairs, fully kitted out in protective gear and looking over the anatomically posed, monstrous corpse. In the time since it's death the body had dried out, skin stretching tight over the bones as the sizable muscles beneath began to bubble or deflate from rot. Close examination revealed patches of thin scaling on the humanoid monster's body, the patches harder of composition but the same shade of color as the skin around them. The three eyes on the monster's round, bald head were drying out as well, creating an odd, spooky crease to the section of head tattooed to create a likeness of Bill Cipher.

First things first, an arcane radiation scanner was brought down to provide readings on the body. It was a clunky box with a tube on one side and various setting dials on the other, mounted over the table upon a maneuverable arm, just like the teeth viewing lamp used in a dentist's office. Ford moved the scanner up and down the monster's body while Dipper sat at a laptop, interpreting the data the scanner collected. "Arcane radiation is level across the body, fading at rates consistent with death. If he has any more tricks, they're too good for our equipment."

"We must press forward in that case." Ford replied, sliding protective goggles over his eyes while bringing a tray full of sharp instruments to bear. He began with sharp incisions across the scalp, carefully dissecting the layers of skin the Bill Cipher effigy had been branded into with ink. After a short series of cuts, the entire skin layer peeled away easily, and Ford place it in a jar full of preservative chemicals and a radiation proof seal to the lid. "One of the chemical tests we perform will be on the ink used to tattoo that, it could reveal valuable information about where this assassin came from." he explained.

Dipper nodded in easy understanding. He was wearing identical eye protection as his Great Uncle, and had discarded his hat for the dissection, letting his birth mark shine free on his forehead. Starting at the feet, Dipper had been performing more preparatory work, making long incisions through the skin to divide it into sections that could easily be folded back to examine the anatomical structure beneath. He's prepped one entire muscular leg by the time Ford had removed the skin section.

Next, the senior scientist worked to delicately remove the specimen's eyes, scooping them out while preserving as much nervous tissue as possible and setting them inside smaller jars of preservative, helpfully labeled "left," "right" and "center" to keep clear which removed eye was which. Ford cut open the creature's large nose next, digging deep into its sinuses to both scoop out the slimy accumulation with, cut free tissue samples of the sinus lining, and used a pressure canister to suck air out of the creature's long silenced lungs, all useful tools to figure out what sort of atmosphere their native world had. Finally, he cracked open their mouth to examine their jaw composition and pluck a few teeth, key means to figure out what a creature had evolved to consume.

By the time Ford was done examining their specimen's head, Dipper had prepped the skin on the right leg, right arm and torso, and the two mutually decided to begin looking beneath. Despite being a heavy, thick sinew, the skin peeled back easily enough, and Dipper worked to clear accumulated yellow fat off the muscles of the arms, though he ultimately had little to do: the creature was extremely muscular.

"Musculature is well beyond the ability of a human being to develop." Dipper noted in a neutral, observational tone, jotting everything down in a notebook he kept in his inner coat pocket. After completing that observation, the young man seem posed to write further, but held the pencil in place with a small questioning look on his face, expression almost completely obscured by his safety googles.

"Something wrong Dipper?" Ford asked, looking up from his task of sawing through the creature's ribcage. The older uncle was well tuned to the tics and expressions of his great nephew after all the time they'd spent together.

"Well, this sort of muscle mass doesn't seem consistent with how it attacked us in the forest. Something like this should have easily slipped out of my rag hold and ripped me in half." Dipper explained, absentmindedly tapping his pencil eraser in contemplation against the flayed corpse. "But then again, it was a stress situation and I hardly have any hard data to back that, so I'm not sure it was worth recording..."

"Dipper, it's always better to have too many notes than too few. You should never feel like you need to hold back ideas or observations you come up with. Worse comes to worst, we can edit the reports down a bit." Ford responded encouragingly, then gestured for him to come to his side of the table. "Besides, I think I might have an explanation for you..." The experienced scientist trailed off, but directed Dipper to help cut through to the specimen's digestive system. The degree of anatomy it shared with humans was curious but not really something they could dwell on at the moment.

It was an significant effort to reach the digestive system, as large slabs of bulky muscle tissue had to be cut apart, hauled out of the body and deposited in bins. When Dipper did eventually reach the target, he nearly punctured the object of their exploration due to not seeing it. "THAT'S the stomach!?" The apprentice asked, and would have scratched his head if his gloved hands weren't dripping with surgical gore. "This... doesn't make sense. Can the creature photosynthesize somehow?"

"Arcanosynthesize is what I think actually." Ford responded as he began to clear away more muscle to get a better look at the stomach and intestines, smaller than they'd be on an adult human, despite the creature's significantly larger bulk. "While I don't have enough evidence to call it a theory, I have a hypothesis about magical creatures that several of my experiments have supported." He explained while carefully lifting the small intestine clear of the body with a hook for a better look. "On earth, all energy in the ecosystem comes from the sun, which is captured directly by plants, then the plants are eaten by herbivores and the herbivores are eaten by carnivores. The chemical reaction of the sun burning drives all life on earth, and we're all eating solar rays no matter our diet. The exception being the chemical vents of the extreme deep sea, but I digress."

"However, across the multiverse, magic, or arcane energy, flows in abundance, a curious free flowing energy without an identified source, like our sun. For whatever reason, Earth does not seem to possess any of this energy outside of the Gravity Falls geographic area, and even here levels are extremely low compared to the multiverse." Ford continued on, Dipper fiercely taking notes at this point. "Unlike solar energy, which requires specific organelles for a lifeform to interact with and harvest them, arcane rays interact with organic matter quite easily, entering the body non-harmfully and responding to mental wavelengths to some extent. Many of the magical creatures that I've dissected, which only live here in Gravity Falls, have similarly insufficient energy collection organ systems compared to the energy using structures of their bodies. I think magic is a sort of physiological shortcut, which allows organisms to develop physiques and body systems they could not normally sustain with their organ systems in an earth environment."

"So... if they guy was physically adapted to a very high magic environment, the reason he didn't rip me and Mabel in half is that he was cut off from his usual fuel source and his muscles were weaker?" Dipper deduced, asking his question with unburdened curiosity, a habit he developed due to Grunkle Ford always encouraging him to ask any questions he might have and always responding with sincerity.

"Spot on Dipper. Or at least, that is what my current hypothesis is." Ford responded proudly, but quickly amended his statement. "Keep in mind, a key trait for a scientific mind is an openness to being wrong. You cannot make true progress if you alter your results to match your hypothesis." However, after a moment of thought, he retrieved a larger box of sharp tools from a counter. "Of course, we're not working on my Arcane Radiation hypothesis and the potential application as a renewable energy source right now, we're trying to figure out where this thing came from and if Bill Cipher is waiting for us there, so we need to get cutting! I've prepared a chart of everything I need extracted for testing based on the x-rays I took earlier."

We that said, the two went to work fully dissecting the creature from another world, communicating minimally to transfer vital information, but both were invested fully in the work. When the job was done, at least four hours later, what was left on the table could only be called a corpse charitably: A gangly mix of narrow flesh strips and fatty muscle chunks hanging loose and patchwork over an incomplete skeleton. The numerous refrigerated storage units had been packed to the brims with sample jars containing every conceivable part of the assassin's body, from sections of skin to fully preserved bones that didn't quite line up to the human skeleton.

Ford and Dipper looked around in satisfaction, a job well done, but both knew the work was only beginning. Every collected sample would need to be analyzed to learn as much possible about whatever dimension this assassin had come from. Once as much data as possible was fully collected from their collection of samples, it could all be entered into the computers operating the portal's viewing functions, letting them filter through dimensions and locate the ones their assassin could potentially come from, and from there, they could perform a much more focused search for Bill.

"Well, looks like we've made a real pile of work for ourselves, huh Grunkle Ford?" Dipper asked in a jokey tone of voice to cover the fact he was rather tired.

"Yes Dipper, I think we have. I'm afraid game night is probably going to have to be cancelled for the immediate future..." Ford replied, mentally weary after the large amounts of exacting fine detail work they'd just done, but still determined to continue the project forward. "Still, I think with the mountain of work we have ahead of us, it's time to call in the rest of the family."

* * *

"You need me to go do your shopping for you?"

One stock inventory later, Dipper had gone upstairs to ask the rest of the family for help while Stanford prepared the tests they did have the supplies for. Mabel was looking at her brother with a difficult to read expression in response to his request and the list of things he held in his hand. Inside of his mind, Dipper was trying to figure out if she was genuinely upset about something or was just making fun on him.

"Think of it as a supply run." Dipper replied to her. "We don't have all the stuff we need to carry out the tests that will tell us where Bill is, so it'd be very helpful if you could go out and get this stuff for us while we use the tests we are equipped for." When he was done explaining, the boy fished a set of keys out of his pants pocket. "You'll need to take the van though, you'll need the extra space to fit everything. I already cleared all my science equipment out of the back and left the money you'll need in the glove compartment."

Mabel's previously hard to read expression sunk to one of unambiguous nervousness and tension. She nervously tugged at her hair and was trying not to look at Dipper when he mentioned the van. "Mabes, what's wrong?"

 _"Dammit, he knows me too well. Curse my extremely expressive face!"_ Mabel thought to herself, realizing she had no option but to come clean. "Dipper... I don't have a drivers license." she explained, looking at her feet briefly. "But not for lack of trying though!" she added on really quickly, perking up to express herself. "I took that test as many times as they'd let me bro, I just... never, uh... passed." Mabel's explanation trailed off as she realized her explanation might not be helping her case.

"Oh, that's so unfortunate. Don't worry Dipper, I can take care of this supply run for you." Cutting into the conversation, Pacifica entered the room and took the keys out of the boy's hand, before regarding Mabel with an expression that mixed pity with some gloating on top. Mabel, for her part, was instantly snapped out of her nervous funk by Pacifica's challenge and narrowed her eyes at the other girl in response.

"Actually, do you two think you could do this together?" Dipper asked, a request he wanted to make as soon as Mabel explained she couldn't drive, but was already starting to regret with the way the two were looking at each other. Both of them looked aghast at the idea of having to work together, but Dipper gave them both his most imploring look, adding "If you work together, we'll have everything we need back here sooner, and we'll be able to track Bill down even faster. Please, can you do this for me?"

The effect his request had on the two was instantaneous, both of them lightening up right away. "Sure thing bro-bro! You can count on your sister to bring back all your science stuff!" Mabel responded, brightening up while turning her eyesight completely on her brother and away from Pacifica.

The blond in question had a much less cheerful response, but besides a roll to her eyes relaxed her tense body language. "Alright, I'll take your sister out shopping with me. You're lucky you're cute when you beg like that Dipper..." While she had said those words while looking to the side and seeming dismissive, her eyes widened and she blushed a little when she realized she'd called Dipper cute.

Dipper, in turn, seemed taken aback by Pacifica's slip up, feeling his chest collapse like he'd had the wind knocked out him while his face lit up as well. "Wait, what!?"

Mabel on the other hand was as quick as ever, responding to the situation by wrapping both her arms around one of Pacifica's and dragging her towards the door. "Alright, girl's night out!... Girl's afternoon out, girl's... girl's shortly before midday, what time is it even, I kinda lost track of the day, need to draw my watch a new battery..." Her intentionally loud talking got fainter and fainter as the two moved through the Mystery Shack, and eventually became unintelligible when the front door shut behind them."


	16. Down To Earth: Chapter 5

** AUTHORS ****NOTE**

 _Warning ahead of time: The Dipper section of this chapter is heavily suggestive, but nothing explicit actually occurs. If you do not desire to read an excerpt from a boy's struggles with puberty, skip the section where it first cuts back to the Mystery Shack, and resume reading when the focus goes to Grunkle Stan. From there out, there's nothing else of a similar nature. I hope you enjoy the chapter._

* * *

The unassuming white van used by the residents of the Mystery Shack glided softly through downtown traffic, Pacifica Northwest at the wheel with a sustained look of mortification on her face while Mabel Pines sat in the passenger seat, arms crossed and observing the passing town. They hadn't been driving for very long and hadn't said anything to each other so far. While stopped at a red light however, Pacifica took a deep breath in, and decided to break the silence between them.

"Mabel, could you please check the list and see where we're going first?" She asked the girl next to her, in a mildly distracted but otherwise normal tone of voice.

Looking away from the window towards the driver, Mabel remarked "What, little miss perfect doesn't have the whole list memorized?" in an unusually snide voice for her.

Pacifica scowled a little at this, but kept her eyes on the road and stayed calm. "Well Mabel, I just want to make sure we're going the right way, and a safe driver always keeps their eyes on the road and doesn't let her attention slip towards distractions." she explained in a measured tone, though the jab put in the words was not lost on the Pines Twin. "So please, help us both and check the list."

"Ugh, fine." Mabel snorted, before pulling the slightly crumpled shopping list out of the cup holder where it had been stored. "Let's see, item number one on Dipper's big list of science knick knacks is... Her somewhat bored reading of the list became more surprised as her widening eyes actually processed the first item on the list. "...A gallon of animal blood!?"

"Oh good, we're right by the butcher's shop on Woodpecker Street." Pacifica remarked with exaggerated casualness, getting a little grin at Mabel's grossed out reaction. The van began changing course for the mentioned business, making an abrupt but non-dangerous turn out of a lane Pacifica had originally intended to keep driving down. "There's a alley we can park in there, you can stay with the van while I go talk to the guy in front."

The casual reaction of the blond girl to the first item on the list only left Mabel more baffled. "Wha... wait, WHAT!? WHY DOES DIPPER NEED THIS MUCH BLOOD!?" She sputtered out, finding this a weird direction for Ford's apprenticeship to have taken. "Are you people, pa...painting hopscotch trains in animal blood to summon even more demons from hell!?" Then, a sudden, horrible realization crossed her face, and Mabel yelled out "IS THIS WHY I HAVEN'T SEEN GOMPERS ALL TRIP!?"

"Mabel, don't be stupid." Pacifica responded, shifting her hands so she was steering with one while the other raised fingers to count out the points she soon explained, all while keeping her eyes on the road and not even looking at the girl she was talking to. "One: You summon DEVILS from Hell, that's just basic knowledge. Second: Gompers got eaten by a Chupacabra, like, two years ago. I didn't even know you guys had a goat until it happened actually, he never did much." Mabel recoiled a little at this unexpected revelation, but the majority of her distress was caused by a mental flash of the same fate befalling her beloved Waddles.

"Third: This animals blood has a lot of potential uses in bioscience, and this butcher would just throw the stuff out normally, we're not killing and extra animals for it." Pacifica explained. "It's used as a component of the nutrient beds in the petri dishes test bacteria are grown on, it works as a fertilizer for botanical projects, it can be processed into meal pellets for carnivorous aquatic specimens, plasma protein works as an emulsifier, and of course it's just good planing to have some bags of it around in case you need vampire bait."

Mabel was about to respond to this lengthy explanation when Pacifica cut her off with "We're here." and began exiting the car without a moment's wait. Still buckled into her seat, Mabel quietly muttered "Yeah, well... YOU'RE an emulsifier..." before getting out herself.

The van had been driven into a fairly wide alley between to buildings that exited onto another street on the other end, allowing them to come and go without backing into a busy street. The butchery the two were here to visit had a study iron door atop a few steps that would open into the alleyway, but Pacifica had already walked towards the street to enter the establishment from the front, leaving Mabel behind, standing by a large dumpster that smelled exactly how you'd expect the dumpster outside a butcher shop to smell like.

After about a minute Mabel was ready to ignore Pacifica's demand she stay with the van and enter the front of the business herself, but a sudden rattling from the dumpster spooked her. At first, Mabel looked mildly embarrassed, catching her breath right away and remarking "Calm down Mabes, probably just a stray cat." she said to herself to calm down, but very quickly, an eyebrow creasing look of worry got on her face. "Then again, I am back in Gravity Falls. That could very well be the noise of hundreds of animal entrails winding themselves together to rise up and take revenge on the humans who butchered them!" she spoke to herself, each word spilling out as soon as the idea it represented came into her head.

After a moment of holding her muscles absolutely tense to not make any noise that could alert the potential creature, Mabel's eyes widened in realization. "Oh my god is this what it's like to be Dipper all the time!?"

Soon enough though, both of her hypotheticals were proven false, when an adult man stood up inside the dumpster, revealing himself to be the source of the noise. His eyes, which held incredibly shrunken pupils, looked at Mabel like he hadn't expected her to be there, all while his body slowly uncurled itself from dumpster diving position to a more upright, though still somewhat crooked, posture. Every inch of the change of position was slow and heavy, and every creek of the muscles sent a noticeable jolt of pain through the man's body.

Mabel, for her part, simply stared at the dumpster diver with more surprise than anything else. The first thing she noticed about him was that he was incredibly sweaty, but for someone rooting around in trash he wasn't badly dressed. His outfit was rugged, a little worn and stained with blood and viscera of course, but underneath all that it looked to be in okay shape: An older set of more rugged clothes someone would put on to do hard work, rather than the worn down rags you'd see on someone who only owned one outfit and lived on the street in it.

Confused, surprised silence reigned between the two of them, Mabel not being sure what to say while the man in the dumpster was rolling his tightly closed mouth together with chewing motions, as if he had something to say but physically couldn't get the words out. After waiting for the stranger to speak a little longer than was comfortable, Mabel took the initiative. "Hello there! How are you doing today?" she asked, flashing her still new feeling braces-free smile.

The man in the dumpster smiled back at her, seemingly reflexively. This revealed the fact he was short a few teeth, and upon closer examination Mabel noticed a few lesions on the man's face, as well as an odd, sluggish limpness to his facial muscles. Finally, he spoke, slurring out a short series of words: "Going alright little missy. I seem to have misplaced my... my wallet though, and can't pay the bus to go home. Could you help a guy out?"

Mabel froze in place as she processed the man's request. The only money she had on her right now was what Dipper gave her and Pacifica to pick up supplies for him and Ford and Mabel really wanted to do a good job for them this time, but at the same time she was struck by how much this dumpster diver seemed to be in need of help, scrounging around in the trash for bus fare...

Her decision ended up being made for her however, as the side door to the butcher's shop opened up, Pacifica stepping out with a gallon sized bleach bottle that had been refilled with thick red liquid, followed by the butcher himself, a mildly portly , sweaty man in a stripped outfit beneath a wide white apron, though the most noticeable thing about him was the black eye-patch he had over his left eye. They seemed to be chatting amicably, but upon sighting the man inside his dumpster, the business owner began yelling at and attempting to chase the dumpster diver off.

Mabel found herself involuntarily flinching as the filthy man climbed out of the dumpster in her direction, but he ultimately ignored her completely to flee the alley, running with a heavy, shambling gait. For his part, the butcher didn't have any intention of pursuing, simply looking to scare him off. Once he was gone, he resumed speaking to Pacifica.

"I'm sorry about this Miss Northwest, I'm planning to put some locks on the dumpsters out here. This won't happen again, I promise." The butcher apologized, but Pacifica didn't seem too concerned with him. Then, the meat worker turned his attention to Mabel, looking at her with concern in his one visible eye. "You are, uh, unharmed, right?"

"I didn't realize Grunkle Stan's 'dashing eye-patch' thing was catching on around here." Mabel blurted out thoughtlessly. She'd found herself staring intently at the business owner, noticing that his one visible eye was similarly shrunken, and he had his own clumsy gait about him that couldn't be solely attributed to his weight.

Pacifica seemed mortified by Mabel's comment, while the butcher was more surprised, but after a moment realization dawned on his face. "You must be Mabel Pines, right? Dipper and that old rascal Stan talk about you a lot, welcome back to Gravity Falls. Your great uncle sold me this eye-patch as a matter of fact, kept me from needing to go to a doctor and get a bunch of questioned ask. After all, this would be a little tricky to explain to a medical professional..."

Then, without prompting, the butcher peeled the eye-patch back to reveal what's underneath: A fully formed human eyeball, fitted snug into its socket, but completely turned to stone, and presumably useless. Mabel gasped a little while Pacifica just tried subtly look away. "Yeah, after I got let out of the whole "throne of human suffering" thing, damn eyeball didn't change back from stone like the rest of me. It's easy to ignore most of the time, but sometimes it bounces around if I move my head too fast and a pointy bit catches on the inside. Gives me a migraine, but it could be worse! I know I guy three blocks down who got the mother of all kidney stones from that... in the sense one of his kidneys literally didn't turn back from stone, hehe." Despite the cheery air the butcher was expressing, there was something distinctly nervous and forced about his laugh at the end. His chattering came to an abrupt end as his brain seemed to catch up to his mouth, and the man quickly flipped the eye-patch back into place. "...I, uh, may have said too much there, I'm sorry. Please don't spread any of this around, okay?"

"It's no problem, thank you again for bottling this stuff for us. Dipper or I will probably be coming around for more sooner than usual, thank you again." she replied dismissively, and soon enough the two girls were alone in the alley again, putting the container of blood into the back of the vehicle and getting back in.

"What was that all about?" Mabel wondered aloud in confusion, thinking about the two strange men she'd encountered, casting her thoughts back to the dumpster diver. "I hope that guy finds enough bus money..."

"Mabel, that guy wanted money to buy drugs." Pacifica remarked bluntly before shutting the back doors to the van.

"Pacifica, that's a terrible thing to say! Not all poor people are drug addicts you snob!" Mabel shot back, crossing her arms and scowling at the rich girl's judgmental tone.

Pacifica raised a finger to argue back with Mabel, but stopped for a moment as she realized she had just sounded pretty insensitive out of context. Instead, the blond put her hand up to her face and sighed with annoyance, before trying to explain things. "Alright, look, no, I mean yes, not all poor people who ask for money are going to spend it on drugs. But, here in Gravity Falls, the odds are likely that they are, what with the opioid epidemic that's going on." When Mabel tilted her head in confusion at this statement, Pacifica sighed before mentally formulating an explanation. They were both inside the van and buckled up now, though the vehicle hadn't started yet.

"Well Mabel, because Mayor Cutebiker, in all his brilliance and capacity for forward planning..." Pacifica explained, sounding intensely grouchy and sarcastic while describing the honorable mayor, "...decided that we all just shouldn't talk about the time a mind demon entered the physical world and used it as toybox to fuel his own sadism, very few people in this town are receiving any kind of professional therapy for the trauma they've endured or sufficient medical attention for injuries they sustained. Most of them don't even talk about it with their family, and of course, we don't have the Society of the Blind Eye around to just, take the memories away anymore. So, in response to the deep rooted physical and emotional pain they're dealing with, they turn to pain medication, most of which they work to get without a prescription, since that would require answering questions. Then, well, things spiral out of control and most people end up dependent on the stuff."

Pacifica took a moment to let her contempt filled voice fade, and when she spoke again it was in a more morose tone of voice. "Be glad he only asked you for money though. It's getting more and more common for people like that to get found after they've overdosed."

Silence reigned in the cabin of the van, lasting some time as Pacifica waited for some kind of response from Mabel. After a long few minutes of though, which involved a bit of hair chewing, the female twin said her response, having chosen her words very carefully. "Does Dipper have these kinds of problems?" she asked gingerly, a lot of regret coloring her tone.

"More than you could ever imagine." Pacifica responded to her, a cold tone to her voice. After a moment though, she added on that "Not, not with drugs though, he's not on anything, if you meant it that way. Honestly I think Dipper is in a better position than a lot of people here, he has a pretty wide circle of people he can just... talk about things with, and that helps a lot. Your great uncles, Wendy, Soos of all people turned out to be an incredibly supportive conversationalist..."

Mabel involuntarily smiled at the description of the handyman, she could have told Pacifica that for free even! However, she was also sensing something going unsaid within Pacifica's listing. "...What about you? Does Dipper talk about his problems with you?" she asked, on the cusp of a revelation. Sure, Pacifica had mentioned she and the boy had conversations about his original adventures in Gravity Falls, and that they'd had a fairly emotionally charged one after the Cipher graffiti scare that ended with Dipper beating a mentally disturbed man with a shovel, but Pacifica was making it sound like they were... long term emotional confidants or something.

Mabel, as wrong as she knew this feeling was, found that prospect incredibly disturbing, because as far as her emails and phone calls with Dipper had told her, her twin had been having the time of his life out in Gravity Falls, not expressing an ounce of his mental trauma to his twin during their correspondence. _"Or maybe he did Mabel."_ The girl's inner voice expressed, a harsh tone ringing in her head. _"Maybe Dipper's always been crying for help and you've been too dense to listen to him."_

Pacifica was quiet for awhile before expressing herself, simply stating that "Yes. We talk about things. A lot." The unspoken information there, that Pacifica discussed her problems with Dipper just as much as he did with her, was easily picked up on by Mabel. The brunette couldn't help but sink into her seat, deflating somewhat as the words sunk in.

The first cognizant thought she was able to forge with this information _"No wonder they're so crazy for each other."_

The blond driver of the car, on the other, had leaned over the wheel of the vehicle, tapping her fingers against it with a sudden annoyed expression on her face. Pacifica was absolutely certain Mabel was going to respond to her extreme moment of emotional vulnerability with some kind of childish non-sequitur or pouty mockery, and was fully prepared to bring out some venom in response. As such, she was utterly surprised when Mabel simply responded with "Thank you Pacifica. For taking care of my brother."

Blinking several times with a look of surprise on her face, the blond stuttered out "Oh... You're welcome." in a confused but completely non-malicious tone. After a few moments of awkward silence, shades of her usual attitude slipped on and she stated "Alright, enough with the sappy stuff, we've sat here doing nothing for long enough. We have supplies to collect after all! Mabel, what's the next item on the list?"

The girl in the passenger seat ended grinning a little at Pacifica's desire to change the subject, and at the fact that her dialogue towards herself was less loaded with disdain than normal. "Right, next item on the list is, uh... I had it around here somewhere..." This joy turned to distress quickly enough, as Mabel rapidly patted herself down to try and find the shopping list, quickly realizing she'd misplaced it.

Pacifica rolled her eyes at this, but it was a gentler roll than usual. She quickly reached into her own pocket and produced a second shopping list. "Don't worry, I made a few copies." Mabel took the list with a mild flush of embarrassment, but quickly read out the next goal.

"Next we need... Five bottles of industrial soap. The cheap ones, specifically."

"Right, we can get that at the nearest bulk goods store. Read the rest of the list and figure out what else we can get there."

* * *

Back at the Mystery Shack, the preliminary round of tests had been completed, and further progress into the origins of the assassin would have to wait until the supplies returned. With nothing better to do, both scientists decided it was time to clean themselves free of the general stench of dissection. It was an odd smell, subtle but pungent, and always stuck to a dissection worker no matter how well their protective clothing shielded them from blood splatter and residue.

Ford, perpetual workaholic that he was, had volunteered to clean himself off with the emergency shower down in the lab so that he could begin inputting existing data into the interdimensional scanner as soon as possible. Their data profile was far from complete, but as long as the machine was running they might get lucky. This would allow Dipper to go upstairs and use the Shack's actual bathroom to clean up, something he was in desperate need of, seeing as he was the only member of the underground spring expedition who hadn't taken a shower since returning from that, and the odor of dried sweat mixed pungently with the stench of death.

This was an offer Dipper was happy to accept, as the boy's adventures had left him filthy at a level even he was beginning to have trouble tolerating, but he also had more... personal reasons to look forward to a long, private shower.

He was, after all, a 16 year old teenager, grappling with the grueling endgame stages of puberty.

As the hot water relaxed Dipper's slowly developing muscles, and the sturdy lock on the bathroom door isolated him from the world, the young man could finally relax, and de-stress himself. Unlike most boys his age, Dipper did not enjoy the process. That is to say, while he experiences the expected pleasant rush that comes with release, he always felt dirty afterwards. It's why he preferred taking care of this in the shower.

 _"Alright, let's get this over with."_ Dipper thought to himself, closing his eyes and beginning to formulate mental images. _"Time to pay a visit to my legally distinct, original character: Vendy the crimson haired fur trapper."_ Even when thinking to himself about such matters, Dipper's voice was tinged with sarcasm, albeit in this case growing from his disgust with himself.

With a groan, Dipper set to work, able to picture a well practiced visualization of himself speaking to Vendy with uncharacteristic confidence and charm, her being taken with him, and then things escalating. For most boys Dipper's age, it would not have been enough, but it had been some time since he had last un-stressed himself like this, leading to a fairly extreme, quick response by his body.

 _"Even though all my previous practical experience with girls taught me this is wrong, I CANNOT let these feelings build up to the point they interfere with my work."_ Dipper's thoughts trailed away as he justified himself. _"If I need to act like a sweaty creep to keep a clear, scientific head, then I'll act like a sweaty creep in the confines of my bathroom!"_

Trying to get back on track from his mental distraction, Dipper returned to his fantasy, letting his feelings resume flowing for a moment, only to attempt to slam down on the brakes and throw his eyes open with a shocked, panicked tinge to his pupils. Things had been going simple enough, he was imagining a finger trailing gently along his shoulder as the object of his dreams walked around his back to face the boy, but when she entered Dipper's frame of view, the imagined female form had changed, having lost all her red hair.

Instead, it was a long, flowing waterfall of bright blond.

The spell was broken, Dipper's eyes were wide open with a sudden shot of panic, and he needed both hands to steady himself as his legs quivered with weakness against a slick, wet floor. The feeling of surprised passed shortly enough however, leaving Dipper with a worried expression. "Oh no. It's getting more frequent." The boy moaned in a defeated tone to himself, new, conflicting feelings wrestling around inside of him. "I shouldn't do that again, this is going to make me things weird and I can't ruin my friendship with Pacifica!" Inside his brain, Dipper was pouring over his relationship with the blond girl against his will, and how it had developed over his years working as Ford's apprentice. Outside of his sister, she was the first true friend he had ever made that was his own age, who respected and even shared many of his interests. He couldn't imagine losing her now, and to his own stupidity as well.

 _"Wendy was amazingly cool for still being willing to hang out and be friends with my after my... less than ideal behavior towards her."_ Dipper was contemplating now. _"Would Pacifica be as forgiving, if she found out about... all this?"_

Silence ran through Dipper's head for a long couple of moments, and to his disgust finally formatted itself into a coherent thought. _"Pacifica is really, really pretty though, right?"_ After a frustrated sigh and a pinch to his brow of annoyance, the boy finally trailed his hand away from his face and resigned himself to the matter at hand. "If that's what it needs today, that's what it gets. C'mon Dipper, let's get this over with."

After a lot of thought on this subject and others, strength returned to Dipper's legs and he was able to stand up straight and step out of the shower, dreams of a long session forgotten. _"Well, as long as Pacifica doesn't find out, I'll never have to learn how she'd react, will I?"_ he thought to himself, and soon enough Dipper was dried off, all clean, and ready to return to work in the laboratory. _"All I need to do is keep this up for the rest of my life!"_

* * *

Meanwhile, Stanley Pines had unexpectedly found himself out on the town, having left the Mystery Shack a little bit after the two girls had. During a final overview of the laboratory and its supplies, Ford and Dipper had realized they'd neglected to add one more item to the list: Some manner of inorganic object "imbued" with Bill's presence, whatever that means. Stan was down in the lab helping them move things and get equipment out of storage while they were discussing it, and while the talk about using a resonance echo to compare the spiritual vibrations of the subject with Bill's own arcane wavelengths had gone over the con man's head, their mention of just what they needed to run that test caught his attention, and Stan quickly volunteered to go out and fetch it rather than give Mabel and Pacifica another thing to do.

 _"Of course, I wasn't being completely honest with them. I guess I just never am."_ Stan thought to himself, with a sort of muttering tone inside his head, as his beat up old car drove away from the Mystery Shack in a reckless fashion. _"I mean, I do want to help Mabel out, but all their nerd talk was getting a little overwhelming."_

Despite his desire to get away from it however, Stan's mind found itself naturally drifting back to the dynamic between his twin brother and great nephew, how easily they worked with each-other, and how casual they were despite the fact that they were surrounded on all sides by a living thing they'd meticulously disassembled and stored in jars. The younger boy had even cracked a joke about the monster needing "a leg up in life" while feeding its rough equivalent to a femur into a grinder.

"Gee Stan, someone threatens his family, so the kid does something crazy that's probably illegal. I wonder where he gets that from?" The old man said sarcastically to himself as realization struck him. With a sigh, he began to wonder. "Maybe I was too hard on him, back then. Maybe I ended up making the kid a little too tough..."

However, as this train of thought led to its logical destination, Stan slammed the breaks on it and backpedaled. "No, I did what I had to, toughening him up just like my dad toughened me up!" He yelled with put upon pride inside the otherwise empty care, then hit a bit of a depressed slump. "Besides, he really needed it. I'd rather have him like this then have turned up dead at some point." He said, with genuine sadness to his voice.

Stan drove his car silently for a few minutes, navigating the streets of Gravity Falls with unusual caution. His thoughts continually drifted in the direction of his long dead father, and the brutal life lessons he had inflicted on his children. _"He... he wasn't the nicest guy, yeah, but he made me what I am! Made me strong enough to fight back against this rotten world!"_ Stan grappled in his head, trying to push down wordless, emotional resentment with arguments he used on himself hundreds of times. _"He was right to throw me out of home, I deserved it! And I needed to pass those lessons onto Dipper!"_

His inner conflict now on the verge of tearing down a significant portion of his internalized world view, Stan abruptly threw his thoughts towards his twin brother and away from their father, crossing three lanes of traffic unannounced in the real world. "I gotta get Ford to give the kid a vacation at some point." he said grumpily, but then snorted "As if Dipper would even take it! He loves this messed up world of hunting mummies and busting pixie drug dealers..."

Further ruminations would have to wait however, as Stan had arrived at his destination: The burned out remains of the city pool. During Weirdmageddon, Bill had evaporated the contents of the pool so it could serve as a giant bowl for whatever alien booze he and his friends were getting wasted on. The fireball he'd dropped to do so had leveled the life guard posts and supply shed, and while the evaporated Oxygen and Hydrogen weren't too bad, the cloud of cleaning Chlorine that had come out of the pool had become an intelligent, hateful cloud that flew into town to reenact the Second Battle of Ypres.

After that, a pool full of alien liquor was one of the least crazy things about Weirdmageddon, at least until Bill and his friends decided to spice things up by serving up flaming drinks. Of course, as per their nature, they figured it'd make things more interesting to set the drinks on fire all the way at the source, and to get yourself a cup you had risk your hand to the green burning flames. And of course, to make it more interesting they threw some humans into the inferno mix.

Stan to this day believed the ones who didn't come out of that pool were the lucky ones.

The abandoned property had the front gate locked of course, but Stan had yet to meet a lock that he, a little elbow grease, and a big crowbar couldn't get past. Despite performing this break in during the middle of the day out in public, Stan made no attempt to be subtle. The Pines family had a lot of leeway in this town these days.

As he stepped onto the charred poolside, the old man took a minute to remember, thinking back to when he and the twins had come here for a relaxing day out. "To think that little snot Gideon was the worst we had to deal with back then..." he mused with a little grin to his face. Then, it was time to get to work.

During the cleanup of the town, it had been discovered that a giant shot glass had been dropped in this pool and shattered at some point during the end of the world party, and attempts to clean it up had been non-starters so far, workers claiming to see strange and frightening things in the reflection. Ford and Dipper had surveyed the area, and had detected a significant mana presence in the area, and decided to simply close the place off and ward it with runestones until the levels had dropped to safer levels and could be moved without paranormal occurrences. A piece of glass from the bottom of the pool, regardless of size, would fit their needs perfectly, and as long as Stan was in and out quickly, he should have nothing to worry about.

That didn't stop him from accepting the metallic tasting tablets Ford had offered his brother before leaving, of course.

After making sure it would hold, and work as a way out, Stan climbed down a slightly melted metal ladder into the bottom of the pool, complaining about his back all the while. Instantly, he was suspicious. Even with his cataracts, Stan could tell there was more sitting on the bottom of this drained pool than broken glass, massive amounts of scattered trash, the kind that builds up with homeless habitation. In addition, the walls of the pool had been covered with multi-colored graffiti.

His suspicions were confirmed moments later when human figures rose from the trash heaps in response to Stan's shoes clattering against the pool bottom. Stan tensed up, but didn't back down. "Alright you otherworldly freaks, come and get some! I'm gonna send you back to whatever hell you crawled out of, then after you die from your internal bleeding there, you'll die and get sent to whatever super hell is waiting underneath that!" He threatened while slipping on his reliable pair of brass knuckles. Then, as the number of shapes got bigger, he discreetly began feeling for the handgun he'd holstered behind his back.

When the entire population of trash covered, lanky humanoids had stood up and directed their attention to the intruder, one of them spoke. "Wait, dude, are you Stan Pines?"

The squeaky, nasally tone of voice the question was asked in set Stan back, and after a moment of looking closer at the figures, who were shedding more and more of the trash they'd been sleeping in, he realized they were just a bunch of skinny, dirty looking teenagers.

"Yeah, whose asking zitface?" Stan responded aggressively, taking note of the deep acne scars the teenage boy had on his face, hidden by long, stringy blond hair that covered his face. However, the boy barely seemed to register the insult.

"Yooooooo! It's Stan Pines my dudes!" He remarked, admiration dripping from every word. In a moment, he surged forward and threw a hand on Stan's shoulder. "Stan the man! Yo I've heard all about you man, I mean, the entire town has heard all about the famous Pines family, but I always thought you sounded the dopest!"

"Uh... really?" Stan asked, a little confused but definitely flattered. Feeling it a little, he added on "Well, I always was the one with all the personality between me and Stanford."

"Yeah dude, your thuggery is off the charts!" He complimented, and this caught Stan off guard again. "You shoplift, you counterfeit money, you flee the cops, you drive wherever you want and some people even say you beat up a bunch of CIA pigs with your bare hands!"

"I mean, well, I suppose most of that is true, but, uh..." Stan was very unused to being praised for his criminal activities, and cast his eyes around the group to see if the praise was universal, and to a strange sense of alarm inside him, it seemed it was. All around him were filthy, rail thin teenagers with glossy expressions, limp muscles, and an expression of admiration aimed right at him. Before he could respond though, his tour guide shoved an open palm under his nose.

"You want some pop man? This is the real good stuff, I promise! Straight from the pharmacy, no cut down or homebrew!" He explained, and Stan noticed he was being offered a handful of pills. "You can mix this with, uh, whatever we've got to smoke at the moment, then you look into the glass around here, and you can see forever man! You can see other worlds man!"

Gently pushing the hand away, Stan stepped back from the teenager and made a show of scanning the ground for a usable piece of glass. "I've had enough of other worlds to last me a second lifetime kid. I just need a piece of glass and then I'm out of here."

The teenager let out a low whistle at this. "Oh, I getcha! Don't get high on your own supply! That's why you're so cool old man! You're smart! You've been in this game so long you know ALL the tricks!" he praised, then looked side to side while seemingly not noticing all the others were still there. "Look man, if you're selling, I've got a fresh thirty or something bucks over in my sleeping bag over there."

Stan was beginning to get uncomfortable now. He'd left this kind of business behind decades ago. "Look, kid, if you think I'm so cool, take some advice from me: Go home, and take a shower! You keep laying around like this you'll all end up with mullets!"

At this point, the laid back teenager seemed to become agitated, shivering with limp, heavy muscles. "I ain't got no home man, I ain't got no home! Rules suck and homework's whack, and mom just spends all day screaming at the walls man! This place ain't home any more, my home is in hell!"

Every muscle in Stan's body was telling him to deck the increasingly jittery junkie and take off, but something about his young face, buried beneath layers of grime and stringy hair, stayed his knuckles. Instead, the old con artist cracked his back to bend down and grab a glass shard, then took off running for the ladder out.

The pool dwellers were growing increasingly loud and agitated, but their weary, heavy muscles were no match for Stan's old man agility and they didn't seem to be actively chasing him yet. However, Stan quickly realized one had been standing behind him all along, and the filth crusted man was blocking the way to the ladder. Acting on instinct, Stan let loose a haymaker, feeling his fist sink into the crackling skin of the teen's face

The strung out boy collapsed to the ground, spurting blood from several locations on his face, and Stan looked down at his fists with horror. _"I forgot I put the knuckles on!"_ He cursed himself, and while a pang of remorse flowed over the old man's body, it was drowned out by his survival instincts, honed over almost a complete lifetime of shady living, which were screaming at him to escape. The one obstacle out of his way, Stan was easily able to climb the ladder and escape the pool, leaving the strange gang of youths behind.

He fumbled his way back inside his car and hit the gas, driving a few blocks away from the pool before coming to a stop and trying to calm down. Finally exhaling a long sigh, Stan's head collapsed onto the steering wheel. His car horn would be blaring right now if it hadn't been broken for at least two years. After a bit of depressed waiting, Stan abruptly checked his pockets to make sure he didn't have to go back to the pool: fortunately, a glass shard sat inside his suit pocket, safe and secure. The old man briefly caught sight of his face in the reflection, and wished he hadn't, quickly changing his view towards the picture of Dipper and Mabel her kept in the car.

"What are you doing to these kids Stanley?" He asked himself in a daze.

* * *

"And if you look to your left, dudes and dudettes, you can see the famous Gravity Falls face rock. Is it a rock, or is it a face? These are important questions!"

Outside the Mystery Shack, Soos was performing his duties as Mr. Mystery with aplomb, leading a thoroughly entranced crowd through the outside exhibits as the last leg of a tour. Once interest in the current attraction had faded, it was time to wrap things up. "That's the last of the attractions for today folks, but we're always uncovering new secrets here at the Mystery Shack! Make a second stop on your way back home and maybe you'll see something new! Or you might not..."

With the crowd dispersing back to either their cars of the gift shop, Soos didn't notice one man walking towards him instead until the group had mostly cleared away. "Oh, hello Mister Pines... uh, 2? Is it okay if I call you that, cause I've been calling your brother Mister Pines for a large section of my adult life..."

"You can call me Ford, if that makes things any easier." The old researcher replied, sounding a little formal in his conversation with the handyman, but still friendly enough. His professional demeanor did break for a moment though, as thoughts rushed behind Stanford's eyes, leading him to distractedly mention that "You know I don't think I've actually interacted with you before now. How has that not happened yet...?" In a tone of voice that implied he hadn't been asking anyone in particular.

"Don't worry about that Mister Pines, I understand you and Dipper are really bust, uh, "paving the way to tomorrow" as he said once." Soos replied dismissively. "I just run the front desk."

"You sell yourself short Soos." Ford returned, an unexpectedly warm compliment coming from him. "Stanley explained to me you worked as a general purpose repairman around the Shack, and during the additions I've made to the building I've been able to observe your workmanship first hand." His voice suddenly became more clinical and analytic. "It all obviously still shows signs of its amateur nature of course, lacking the application of more advanced engineering or architectural principals, and the quality of the materials you had access to goes without saying, but despite all that your repairs to the building show a large amount creative thinking, problem solving capacity and all possess an enduring durability you wouldn't have guessed from cursory examination." Ford's eyebrows creased a little as his view got a little distant. "It's a shame this was the only outlet you've had for your talents all your life, you would benefit greatly from formal education as an engineer I think..."

Soos seemed like he was mustering a response, but Ford had a quick response to his own question he cut him off with. "Still, Dipper thinks very highly of you, and Dipper's seal of approval is the only one a person needs in my book. How are things going up here? Is the front business finding success?"

"It's pretty good dude." Soos replied, easing into the conversation despite his unfamiliarity with the othe twin. "I mean, general numbers have been dropping off for awhile now, but the people who do come are still buying merch. The new Mystery Shack question mark brand umbrellas we put in recently are a big seller, it rains way more often up here than the TV shows would have people believe."

"Yes, I had hypothesized something like this might happen. This town was bound to amass a reputation after Bill's invasion, as much as the people try to fight it. The ugly scars spoil that scenic tourist amusement aesthetic, even when they're beneath the surface." Ford replied somewhat spaciously, having clearly not listened to Soos' complete sentence, though the second generation Mister Mystery didn't mind. After a moment of brooding, which Soos let him have, recognizing it as a behavior Dipper had displayed even before meeting his other great uncle, Ford snapped back to reality. "Yes, well, anyways I've come to help with that. I have a new tourist attraction for you!"

Soos lite up at this announcement, genuinely pleased at the prospect of a gift from the other Pines brother. "That's great Mister Pines, is it some kind of super science gadget that the kids can ride for a quarter?"

"Even better!" Ford announced, twisted around so he could remove the object from his coat without Soos seeing it early. With a theatrical, GM mode voice, he stated "BEHOLD!" while twisting around and revealing he had a blue colored, reptilian eyeball in his hand, about twice the size of a human eye and with the optical nerves still attached. "The prophetic eye of the dream warlock!" he announced with gravitas. Waiting for a reply with a cheesy smile on his face, Ford finally noticed Soos looked mildly disgusted and confused at the object, prompting him to hastily add "Don't worry, it was gouged out when I found it!"

"Oh, well, that makes it okay, I think." Soos responded, taking a much more relaxed tone. "You, uh, think it'll bring in tourists?"

"I'm certain of it!" Ford announced, turning the eyeball around to show Soos the individual nerve endings, not noticing his mild squirming at the sensitive tissue being handled by Ford's six calloused fingers. "I had discovered that, if you stimulate the nerve endings here with, oh, an 18 volt battery will do, it projects dimensional energy rays that let you create windows into other dimensions, if you project the wavelengths onto a specially treated canvas screen!" He explained excitedly, then frowned after a moment. "Well, it did. All the cones in this are burned out, so now all it does is X-ray anyone caught in the projection. I figured the kids could pay a dollar or so to get a picture with their skeleton visible."

At this point, Ford was offering the gouged eyeball for Soos to take, and it was obvious to everyone but Ford the former handyman didn't really want to touch it. "Uh, this is a great gift dude, that sounds awesome, but don't you need this for your research?"

"Think nothing of it my dear boy." He replied dismissively. "You'd be helping us by taking it, honestly. The recent necrotic analysis of our mystery attacker requires us to clear a lot of space out of the basement, so we're getting rid of a lot of exhausted samples, dead end research, failed prototypes, etc. I'm sure this will generate a little extra money around the Shack."

At this point, Soos felt privately obligated to take the eyeball, and while it wasn't as slimy to touch as he expected, holding it between his fingers generated a discomforting feelings of pressure on his own eyeballs, of which Soos was very protective. "I... appreciate the gesture, Mister Pines."

"Like I said, it's no problem." Ford dismissed with a wave of his hand. "Dipper got together everything else you'd need to make it a proper exhibit, so, if you'd like, you can show us exactly where to set things up."

"Oh okay. Thanks again." He responded while following Ford back into the building. "How's he doing, by the way? Dipper I mean."

"Prodigiously." Ford responded, voice brimming to full with pride in his student. "During out series of tests this afternoon, he conducted them to perfection with far less explanation than I had projected, and as a matter of fact, managed to refine as few of my ideas. You see, to look for comparative isotope levels, we normally..."

"That's great to hear, I mean, Dipper was always a smart dude, so no surprise there." Soos gently interrupted. "But I meant more like, how's he _doing?_ Like, up here man." He elaborated, while poking his own head.

"Ah, yes. I see what you mean." Ford replied, with a bit of shuffle to his tone of voice. "Your concern is touching, thank you." he replied sincerely, before elaborating "We all undergo deep cortex mental scans upon returning through the portal, and Dipper's mind is completely free of Bill's influence every time. In addition, the psychic scrambler I've built into the Mystery Shack is active 24/7 until the battle against Bill is over."

"Is that why I feel fuzz inside my ear when I do this?" Soos asked absentmindedly in response to the mention of the psychic scrambler, before attempting to lick his own elbow.

"...No, I think that sensation might be purely psychosomatic." Ford responded slowly, genuinely puzzled at this.

"Right, I'll keep that in mind, thanks dude." The second Mister Mystery responded with idle content, before getting a little more serious again. "But, didn't Dipper, like kill someone recently? I hear Mabel mention that, but she once also said Dipper was going to kill her when he was threatening to take away her sewing needles after one landed in his arm."

At this point, Ford came to a stop in front of a door, taking off his glasses and rubbing the inside clean. "Yes, well, in this case you heard correctly. Dipper did recently dispatch an interdimensional assassin with lethal force. Purely self-defense, I assure you. More than self-defense even, as he protected his sister and Miss Northwest in the process."

Soos felt his feelings about this matter, and Ford's stark manner of speaking about it, roll around inside him, but before he spoke up again, the scientist had another thing to say. "I understand it's not the easiest thing to come to terms to, but make no mistake, we are at war will Bill Cipher. If he is successful, he'll kill us, and sooner or later everyone on earth. We have no other real choice in this matter, if I may be frank."

Soos was quiet for a minute, thinking back to his days as a wandering folk her during the end of the world. "I saw what Bill did to the world Mister Pines, what he did to people." The wise handyman remarked after breathing out a deep breath. "If there's anyone in this world I won't mourn, it's him and his cronies."

"Good man Soos." Ford replied, placing a firm hand on his shoulder. It was a rare gesture that Soos had always prized when Stan gave it to him, but the other twin's grip felt different, beyond just his extra finger. Ford, however, had cracked an earnest little smile now. "Now, let's get this object of interdimensional knowledge and power set up as a cheap tourist attraction!" The door was open now, and Ford was walking through. "Dipper, is everything set up?"

Following him through, Soos felt his doubts begin to recede but never vanish as he took in Dipper working alongside Ford, carrying the electrical wires, hanging up the screen and positioning the large batteries, looking so happy and content the entire time. _"I once told Stan my only mission in life is protecting these kids..."_ he thought to himself. _"...But where does that leave me when they stop being kids? Or stop wanting to be protected?"_

* * *

It was much later in the day now, and the supply run was long over. Mabel had helped everyone unload the contents of the van and headed off to her upstairs bedroom, claiming she was worn out, while Dipper and Ford stayed underground to continue testing. Sitting flat on her bed, wide awake, the girl attempted to sort out her own thoughts.

She was trying to figure out her brother, specifically. "I never knew he takes all this stuff so hard..." Mabel muttered to herself, throwing her memories back to the first summer in Gravity Falls. Almost all of the ones she revisited brought a smile to her face, or at the very least she was indifferent to. Sure, the final battle against Bill had been kinda scary, but for the most part her memories of that incident were colored by her overwhelming dread that Bill would reveal she had given him the rift. She even chuckled a little while remembering how she tossed glitter in his big, stupid eye. "Hehe, guess he wasn't that tough after all." She said after a little more thought. "Couldn't even kill the Shack-tron with a muda barrage..."

 _"No, I think Bill was at his scariest when he had possessed Dipper..."_ Mabel's mind had wandered, and now she was frowning. She'd tried very hard to put that incident, and the note she's discovered afterwards, out of her mind. It was one of the few times from that summer Mabel could remember being genuinely frightened and guilt stricken, and even now, this many years later, she could feel her well buried regret and fear from the incident boiling up inside her, threatening to flood every nerve ending and strike them hot with emotional pain...

"Stupid Pacifica! Why does she gotta be picking at that!?" Mabel shouted abruptly, flushing the building feelings of hurt out of her with a white hot flash of anger towards the blond girl, and the dressing down she'd given her days ago about her treatment of her brother. At this point, the brunette sprung out of bed, beginning to pace around the room with a flustered gait to release some of the energy she felt building in her. "She has no right to make fun of me for that incident! She's part of the reason Dipper stays here, in this whack land of drug addicts and scary monsters!"

At that point, Mabel stopped talking because she felt an overwhelming need to breathe come over her. The anger inside her had built up to the point she felt like she was physically burning up at that point. With panting breath, Mabel walked over to an ice cold glass of lemonade she'd brought up with her and chugged it down, before reaching for a bag of gummy worms and swallowing a handful. Instantly, she felt the cool waves radiate across her body and the sugar sweetness explode in her mouth, overwhelming her as she chewed the candy into a rainbow paste.

Calmer now, Mabel sat back down on the bed, collapsing sideways on it this time. The anger had flushed out of her at this point, the tingling joy of her sweets filling in every nerve ending, giving her a gentle, enjoyable feeling of wholeness. "Good old sugar, I can always count on you when the blue feelings get a little too smothering!"

 _"Okay, right, got all that over with. Right, what was I thinking about again?"_ Mabel was musing to herself, trying to figure out where her train of thought had derailed. "Pacifica, yeah! She and Dipper apparently 'talk' about all their problems. Why do they bother doing that!? That just keeps the pain fresh!" She figured. While Mabel did look back at her memories of the summer with mostly joy, she did have a few points of sorrow, with the potential loss of Waddles and both times she'd lost Mermando, ( _"Oh god I haven't thought about him for YEARS!"_ Mabel realized with a jolt) ranking highest, though both of them ended up paling in comparison to the loss she'd felt these last three years, at the absence of her twin brother.

Sitting in bed, the girl struggled against her painful memories, trying to push them back into the part of her brain that didn't think about things, but this time it was different. Instead of sliding into the closet so she could slam the door shut and lock it, Mabel's memories stuck fast and squirmed against her. Trying to push them down with her hands only resulted in the digits getting stuck and the bubbling, sticky material she internalized bad memories as crawling up arms.

A rare moment of self-reflection overwhelmed the twin, painful memories now demanding to be see and reviewed, like the sprout of a flower fighting against the dirt to reach the sun. As hard as Mabel tried to push them away and hide in sweater town, they broke through to her, replaying in front of her eyes over and over. Every moment where she felt bad about something overwhelming her. Then, as if the memories were content that they'd gotten to say what they wanted, they abruptly stopped sticking and fell back into Mabel's Mental Closet without resistance, and she slammed the door shut and locked it.

The girl had collapsed back on her own bed at this point, eyes widened and even sweating a little. _"That was the most intense emotional rush of my life."_ Mabel thought to herself. _"That strongest sadness was stronger than the happiest happiness I'd ever felt, which was... what is my happiest memory?_ " She found herself wondering. _"Was it all the way back when Dipper shaved his head to be alongside me...? NO! That memory hurt, I've never thought back to that memory before and I'm not doing it again!"_ Mabel scolded herself, adding an iron bar to her memory closet. _"Was it when I saw a unicorn for the first time? Such a bright rush overwhelming me... but no, that moment is retroactively ruined."_

Mabel frowned, sorting through her memories. All her moments of great, overwhelming happiness were inevitably tinged with some kind of sadness, either in the moment or some later spoiling of it. _"I think if you'd asked me this before I'd have said the day I got Waddles, but now I can't help but feel a little bit bad for Dipper at the time."_

As she ran through her memories, the revelation gradually dawned on Mabel that there were times of pure emotional happiness, the ones she'd always reflect upon, purely good memories without any sad sting to poison them with. Material moments, like drinking Mabel Juice, winning a poker game against Grunkle Stan, hanging out with Grenda and Candy, teasing Dipper about his voice...

But, there was an edge to those memories now, Mabel realized. The happiness she felt when recalling those was different than the happiness that came intertwined with pain. That happiness, for the brief, glorious moment Mabel could feel it before the pain drowned it, was a boiling inner light that left her feeling glowing and alive, before the sharp dagger of unhappiness carved holes in her body the light shined out of and escaped through, leaving in her in awful memories. This unambiguous happiness, the one with no strings attached, was a pleasant numb that fell upon her body from the outside, blocking out everything cold and hurtful from reality so her natural inner flame, healthy but reasonable, could be all she felt.

"That's what the bubble did to me..." she breathed involuntarily, the revelation overtaking her. Mabel's eyes widened, and she began to flail about against nothing. "No wait! Don't think about that, back inside thoughts!" But it was too late, understanding was overtaking her. Every good, unambiguous memory, where she got everything she wanted and enjoyed herself without any personal drawbacks, was poisoned by her newfound, self-reflective discovery about the illusion bubble and the true depth, the true depravity of Bill Cipher's ultimate trap for her.

 _"I've been in that bubble my whole life."_ Mabel thought to herself, a sobering realization settling into her bones. _"That bubble, that trap, was truly perfect. A tailor made, perfect reflection of my life. I NEVER would have escaped from it on my own, that thing could have held me prisoner until the sun exploded, if Dipper hadn't thought I was worth saving..."_

Mabel's body language was becoming morose and despondent as she sunk into the bed. "Dipper..." she breathed out, taking a long moment to really think about her brother. _"'Is this what he's like all the time?"_ she wondered. As Mabel reviewed everything she had on her twin, she realized that while she had a lot of knowledge of his habits, his history and his actions, she actually knew very little about who he was inside, what made him tic. She had never expected him to stay in Gravity Falls, after all.

 _"No, I know my own brother perfectly well! Let's count his deep personal traits out!"_ Mabel thought to herself, defiant look on her face. _"He's smart, and that's because... uh, because he is! He doesn't like to talk to people, somehow? I mean it's super easy, why does he gotta be so rude about it!? Dipper is, well, he's always wanted to grow up super fast, I guess because he just hates fun? ...He certainly got that wish..."_

Try as she might, Mabel was gradually learning she had very little insight into who Dipper actually was, even before their separation.

"Mom and dad always told me that as long as I was happy, Dipper would be happy." She said to herself, and like a pile of bricks the absurdity of that statement came crashing down on her. "What have I done? What _have_ I done?" Mabel breathed out, with far more confusion than most people who use that line carry. "I had the greatest, most supportive brother in the world and I never even tried to understand him. I... I don't know the first thing about who Dipper is!" she admitted with a tone of despair, before being overcome with a feeling of determination and jumping off her bed.

"Well, that changes today!" Mabel challenged, standing up tall. "From this day forward I'm going to be the most supportive, most loving twin sister on the planet!" She took one step towards the door, and stopped. As much as it was just a figure of speech, Mabel suddenly felt like every step of her ways weighed down by the pain that now infested all of her memories. The girl took a deep breath, and thought to herself _"Maybe I'll even learn to live like this in the process."_ before taking another step forward.

 _"This is the key, I'm certain! If I can do this, I'll get my brother back!"_

* * *

It was evening now, the last quarter of the sun barely peeking over the horizon. Dipper and Ford had gone below ground with their supplies to continue their work, while Soos had gone home with Melody, Stan had sat down to watch TV, Pacifica was reviewing the field supplies they had above ground, and Mabel had thrown herself into a flurry of activity, the first step in her self-proclaimed journey of re-integration to Dipper's life: She was attempting to make him and Ford some surprise dinner.

The idea had come to her during a chance encounter with Grunkle Stan, the two passing each other on the stairs. "Mabel..." the old man had brought her to a stop, tone of concern in his voice. "I... geez, this isn't easy to say, but I'm worried about your brother..."

Mabel let out a sharp, surprised gasp, putting her hands to the bottom of her mouth in shock. "Grunkle Stan, that's amazing! I'm worried about Dipper too!"

Stan seemed relieved to hear that, but he kept on a grim, troubled look about the subject while Mabel seemed eager and cheerful. "Look, I know the whole thing with Bill Cipher is a real threat or whatever, but do you think it would kill them to come up and eat dinner with us, as a family for one night?" he asked. "I'm not being unreasonable there, am I?"

"Does Dipper typically eat his dinner down in the lab?" Mabel asked, genuine curiosity on her face.

"I hope so, since I rarely see him eating up here..." Stan remarked sarcastically. "Look, do you think you could..."

"Way ahead of you Grunkle Stan!" Mabel bubbled over, able to reach up and place a finger on Stan's lips to quiet him after her growth spurt. "I'll do you one better even, and make sure Dipper gets something to eat tonight!" she declared, before taking off down the stairs.

And so, a little over an hour, as night was falling on the town, Mabel's masterpiece was complete, a three-course culinary construction created from the mismatched scraps and ends accumulated by three people who barely knew how to take care of themselves under one roof, and then to make it better, she'd created a second plate of food to feed Grunkle Ford as well. Each dish centered around an impromptu hamburger, make by pressing ground up beef and turkey into a patty squeezed between two slices of toast and topped with the remains of an apple, a banana, some cheese and few bacon strips Mabel had sent through a cheese grater. Added as sides were a scrambled egg to each plate, as well as a small pile of frosted cookies she'd flash cooked by turning the oven way past the recommended safety levels and putting in small cups of pancake batter. The kitchen had been left a dirty mess, but Mabel was satisfied with her creation.

The vending machine elevator dinged and Mabel stepped out, balancing one plate in her left hand while the other sat on her head. "Hey guys! I figured you might be hungry so I brought some dinner down!"

"Mabel, it that you!?" She could hear Dipper call from deeper in the basement. "Set it down in the DD&MD room, I'll be right with you!" Mabel giggled and did so, laying both plates down, and abruptly realized, as she heard Dipper's footsteps approach her, that they had _expanded_ down here over the years.

"Wow, I hadn't noticed how much space they've added down here the last few times I came here." She muttered to herself, only to brighten up and put a smile on when Dipper appeared in the doorway.

"Hey Mabel." he remarked somewhat uncertainly. "You made us dinner then? Uh, thank you, did Great Uncle Ford ask you to do this because I don't really remember asking..." Dipper rambled, keeping his distance to the entrance of the game room.

"NOPE!" Mabel cut off, closing the distance between them by herself to give her brother a hug, which he subtly stiffened at. "I decided to do this entirely on my own, as a gift for you two! It's almost 8 PM you know, surely you guys can take a little dinner break?"

Dipper's rumbling stomach ended up betraying him, and after carefully extracting himself from Mabel's grip, was able to talk Ford into taking a break from active experimentation to running data entry while they all ate. Soon enough, the two scientists were seated at the game table, laptop computer and two plates spread out in front of them while various piles of paper stacked here and there.

"So, what do you guys think?" Mabel asked hopefully after they'd both taken a bite.

"It's quite good actually." Ford remarked, speaking with his mouth full. "But if I'm being fully honest with you Mabel, everything on earth tastes good to me. Surviving on downed star spawn you'd shot down with acid blasters and the fungus scrapping to life on a chunk of rock floating through the ethereal plane will give you quite the appreciation for earth food." He hadn't meant it as an insult to what he was eating, it was simply the old scientist's nature to give someone all the relevant information when answering a question.

"Well, I've never done any of that, and I agree it's very good." Dipper added on, chewing and swallowing before he spoke. "Thank you Mabel." he added, but after a somewhat awkward moment of the two twins starting at each other while Ford simply typed away at the laptop while sometimes reaching for a fresh bite, he added "...Uh, you can go now, if you'd like? I'll bring the plates up when we're done."

"Can I stay and watch?" she asked unexpectedly. "Whatever you guys are doing, it looks interesting!"

Dipper responded to his twin with visual skepticism, but Ford simply beckoned the other twin over to take a seat. "You're quite right, it is! This singular portable computer is fully capable of operating the portal control systems, letting us run and program it from anywhere in the house! Amazing where computers have gone while I was away..."

"And so that is what let's us find Bill Cipher and hunt him down?" Mabel asked.

"Exactly!" Ford answered. "However, given that the multiverse is functionally infinite, we need some kind of trace to start narrowing down results by to look for him. The fragment of him we erased from your mind recently was a good lead on the first Bill fragment, but with that gone, it's fortunate we have a new sample to analyze. Otherwise, with all the recent interference, it could take us some time to lock onto him. You see, all energy flow in the multiverse..." While he was talking, Ford had reached for another charts result to type into the computer, only to realize it was the last one. "Dipper, please take over for a moment, I'm going to get more of our results."

Soon, Ford was out of the room, leaving Dipper to type away on the keyboard as Mabel scooted her seat a little closer to his. "So, what's this about interference Grunkle Ford mentioned?"

Dipper stopped typing for a second to compose his explanation before he began talking to his sister. "Well, you see Mabel, as we've researched things here, we've discovered that Great Uncle Ford's initial hypothesis was mostly correct, once we'd sorted out the lies Bill had initially told him. As it turns out, there is another dimension out there that is the source of all of the weirdness in Gravity Falls! But, it's more than that, as we've researched, we figured out it's the source of all the weirdness in the multiverse! Well, weirdness isn't quite the right word, more like it's a source of energy..."

"What does this have to do with finding Bill?" Mabel asked, genuinely confused.

"Mabel, let me explain everything or things won't make sense." Dipper answered her curtly. "So, like I said, there's something at the... center, is more or less the best way to describe it. An extremely alternate dimension that seemingly "flows" into every other, feeding them arcane psyco-radiation..." Dipper stopped, realizing he'd dropped a fairly technical term on Mabel. "...Which is magic. Basically there's one world where all the magic comes from, and it has... pipes, more or less going off of it that deliver magic to everywhere else in the multiverse. We can't actually see or travel to this "Arcane Dynamo" as Ford has named it, but all our readings know it's there, like how you can tell if something's underwater even if you can't see it."

The longer he spoke for, the more excited and invested Dipper seemed to get, Mabel noticed. "So, this center world is what makes Gravity Falls weird?" she asked. "Didn't Grunkle Ford talk about things being drawn here?"

"Yes, but that was an earlier hypothesis. Nowadays, we believe that anomalies develop here in Gravity Falls, and then a very limited number of them adapt to be able to survive outside and find environments in the rest of the world. The spell lattice of the planet Earth is wrong compared to the other dimensions and planets we've observed Mabel. For some reason, instead of flowing to the entire world, magic only flows here to Gravity Falls, making it the only place most "weird" beings could survive. Bill wasn't trapped by some kind of barrier, he was contained because his own power could not expand further beyond the source without exhausting itself." Dipper explained succinctly, fingers flying across the keyboard all the while.

Mabel blinker at her brother a few times, trying to process things. "So... earth has a magic pipe going to it, but someone put a manhole cover on top of it, but the manhole cover has a little loose spot where magic comes to Gravity Falls from?" she asked herself just as much as she was asking Dipper.

The question actually gave the boy pause, and he stopped typing to answer it. "You've... got the gist of it, essentially Mabel. Though in all our projections the system is significantly less euclidean than what you described."

Not understanding what that actually meant, Mabel pressed forward and asked "So what's with these disruptions you mentioned?"

"Something happened awhile ago on all our scanners, weird fluxes across the multiverse." Dipper answered, a dark look of contemplation settling across his face. "It was impossible for us to tell, since we can't actually see the source, but based on the readings we had from regularly observed dimensions, something was going on there, some kind of... decay or sublimation." He guessed with a frustrated sigh. "None of our equipment was calibrated to work with those settings, and it severely set back our search efforts. Whatever it was though, it seems to have passed. Luckily we have all this data to hunt Bill down with..."

Mabel was quiet for a long while as Dipper kept working, hoping he'd resume the conversation with her. He never did, and just as she was about to open her mouth to get them talking again, Ford came back into the room, a full batch of test results they could enter into the computer. Dipper instantly seemed to brighten up, engaging in vigorous conversation with Ford that Mabel could barely keep up with. Eventually, she excused herself from the room, and while the two did take the time to thank her again for bringing dinner in, she felt a bit of a hole in her heart.

 _"Tomorrow."_ Mabel thought with certainty, mopping around the vending machine and realizing how late it was right now. _"Tomorrow, I'll figure something out to get some time with Dipper. Maybe I can convince everyone to take a trip to the city pool, then work out some kind of "distraction" for Pacifica after she "motivates" him to come along..."_

But the twin's new, still formulating plan would never come to pass. Not because of the abandoned state of the city pool, which she was so far unaware of, but because by morning, she would discover the Mystery Shack was once again absent three people.

Early in the morning, the automated scanning equipment found a 100% match, and the three travelers were through the portal before Mabel woke up.

* * *

 **AUTHORS NOTE**

 _This was, from my experience writing it at least, a fairly heavy chapter, so in an unusual turn of events I feel the need to explain myself and some of the ideas I am putting into this fanfiction._

 _First, bringing a drug angle into this story. I understand it might seem like a sudden bit of cheap sensationalism to bring into the story, but ever since the show's finale I disliked the idea of the townsfolk simply attempting to cover up and not discuss the horrifying hell on earth they'd all gone through, viewing it as an insultingly comical ignoring of the real damage trying to suppress trauma and just "get over it" can do to people. It's a horrible thing to encourage people to do and should provoke appropriately horrible consequences._

 _Secondly, Dipper's alone section here. This scene was not written for titillation, instead meant to explore more of his psychology, but if the moderators of this website believe that scene should push this story to M rating, I will not contest this decision. A large part of my intent with this story is to explore the damage the events of Gravity Falls would inflict on people, and this was meant to explore one of Dipper's many, many issues. While not as flashy or traumatic as his brushes with death or his unhealthy relationship with his sister, I do believe Dipper had a number of unfortunate incidents relating to his exploration of his developing feelings towards the opposite sex, that could have left him with an unhealthy view of relationships and his role in them. Chief among these is a certain waste of airtime from Season 2B, but little moments exist all over the show. Also, it helps explain how they aren't already dating._

 _Finally, Mabel's mental exploration. This was my attempt to get inside her head a little, and provide a reasonable explanation (not an excuse) for her many questionable actions over the show and her lack of any real character growth, while still leaving her at least a little sympathetic and open to development. Mabel experiences EVERYTHING incredibly strongly, so when she's happy, she's a creative little ball of energy that generates endless internet memes, but becomes completely morose and despondent when experiencing sadness, for which I cite "Time Traveler's Pig." As a result of this, whenever Mabel is upset, she instantly goes to work suppressing this feelings and getting her joy back, and this is why she canonically has no self-reflection and can't learn any lessons from her experiences: Her character development in "Sock Opera" didn't stick because she refused to think about the events of that episode after it happened. Of course, this lack of self-reflection is not helped by the fact that no one in-universe ever puts her to task for her behavior. This was the most sympathetic explanation I could think of for Mabel's numerous emotionally hurtful actions and poor character development._

 _Anyways, I hope you have all enjoyed this chapter despite, or perhaps because of, these heavy elements, and I welcome any feedback you may have on them._


	17. Prologue

"Alright, wellness check! Are either of you experiencing any portal sickness?"

"I'm feeling great Doctor Pines. Dipper, are you okay?"

"Feeling great, thank you Pacifica. Great Uncle Ford, are we where we're meant to be?"

"...Yes. All environmental conditions match the projections the scanner made within 98%. That means we're going to need the anti-arcane radiation pills. One moment. After taking them, initiate weapons check."

"Ugh, I hate those things. Tastes like horseradish and goes down like a marble."

"Here Pacifica, take it with a little water, goes down easier."

"Right, that's mine, one for you Dipper, and here's yours Pacifica. I'm going to survey the area from that hill while you two get these down."

"Yes Doctor Pines."

 **GULP**

"Thanks Dipper, that made them a lot more palatable."

"You're welcome Paz. Now, let's see what's going on here... Hey Great Uncle Ford! ...Oh no."

"What is it Dipper?"

"Based on that expression on your face and the fact that you didn't put the binoculars down to answer me, I'm guessing we have company?"

"Astute as always Dipper."

"So, what is it this times boys? Angry natives with spears, more bug aliens with lasers, or has Bill Cipher decided to just cut to the chase and drop a building on us this time?"

"...None of the above. Everyone brace yourselves!"

"Ack, my hat!"

"If anything's broken I'm suing!"

"Hi there!"

"Oh geez, Paz I think I hit my head because I'm seeing double..."

"I saw the portal you guys came through a mile away, you must be interdimensional travelers! So, who are you, where'd you come from!?"

"Great Uncle Ford?"

"I... think we can give a little information, we are the visitors here. Hello young lady, my name is Stanford Pines, and these are my research assistants, Dipper and Pacifica. We've traveled to your world from a place called Earth. We would appreciate it if you could tellUUGGGGHHH!"

"Great Uncle Ford!"

"Personal space mean anything to you lady?"

"YOU'RE FROM EARTH!? Oh my goodness I didn't think that was possible, this is amazing!"

"Hey, crazy girl, could you let go of the old guy before you break his spine?"

"Oh, hehe, sorry, of course! I'm just so excited!"

"Doctor Pines, are you alright?"

"I can see the light Dipper..."

"Can... can you tell us who you are, exactly?"

"Oh, right, I should introduce myself. Mom always tried to teach that was an important courtesy..."

"I'm a magical princess from another dimension!"

 _ **AUTHORS NOTE**_

 _Yep, we're going there._

 _I'll admit, when I started writing this story, I didn't really have an endgoal to it. I was intrigued by the possibility the actual ending to the show shot down, so I figured I'd write a story about it. That being said, I didn't really have an end point to it, outside of the Pines Family fighting the Bill fragments over and over. This partially accounts for why it took me so long to update at certain points. However, while I was writing this, I was also trying to fill the Gravity Falls shaped hole in my heart with Star Vs The Forces of Evil, and at some point it just seemed natural that the next step of the story was to visit Mewni and inject my versions of the GF characters into that show's season 3._

 _If anyone dislikes this as a direction to take the story in, I understand and realize I probably could have foreshadowed this better, and hope you have enjoyed yourself up until now. For those who wish to keep reading, this story will continue in "Three More Can Keep A Secret," published in the Gravity Falls/Star Vs crossover section. I submitted the new story before going over to post this chapter, so if you're reading this as soon as it pops you'll probably need to wait a bit for "Three More" to show up, I apologize. I can only hope you give these further adventures a try and that you've enjoyed yourselves so far. Thank you for reading._


End file.
